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New Jersey woman arrested, charged following Saturday afternoon police chase

YORK COUNTY, Pa. — A New Jersey woman was arrested Saturday after leading police on a high-speed chase that afternoon. Ashley Houghkirk, 25, is charged wi...
Ashley Houghkirk

YORK COUNTY, Pa. — A New Jersey woman was arrested Saturday after leading police on a high-speed chase that afternoon.

Ashley Houghkirk, 25, is charged with three counts of  driving under the influence, recklessly endangering another person, fleeing or attempting to elude police and several other vehicle offenses.

A Pennsylvania State Police trooper was dispatched around 12 p.m. for a report of an erratic driver traveling westbound on Interstate 76 from Lancaster County, the affidavit states. Ten minutes later, a corporal noticed a black Mazda Sedan passing vehicles at a high-rate of speed on the shoulder. The corporal stopped the Mazda in the area of the Harrisburg East Interchange and identified the driver. According to the affidavit, Houghkirk — described as being erratic in nature, paranoid and nervous during the traffic stop — accused the corporal of being a gang member and then drove off, continuing westbound.

Police followed Houghkirk off the interstate — exiting at the Harrisburg West Shore Exchange — and into Fairview Township in York County, where she lost control of the Mazda and crashed into an embankment on a private driveway in the area of Marsh Run Road and Granite Quarry Road.

The affidavit says Houghkirk fled on foot into the woods prior to the trooper and corporal’s arrival at the scene. The search was discontinued after Pennsylvania State Police Aviation and other local police departments couldn’t find her.

Police then searched her vehicle where they found two bags containing a substance that tested positive for heroin, the affidavit adds.

Houghkirk was later found and taken into custody by the Fairview Township Police Department around 3 p.m. In an interview with Pennsylvania State Police, she told them that she last used heroin the day before the chase and that she was a habitual user.

She was taken to York County Prison and posted bail Thursday.

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