Fugitive from Delco arrested after car crash in Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA >> The woman who escaped custody from an Upper Darby district court last month and has been evading police ever since has finally been captured.
Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said Thursday that Carolyn Quiah, 26, was arrested by Philadelphia police after leading police on a car chase that afternoon that ended in West Philadelphia.
Quiah’s arrest comes three weeks after she fled from the district court of Magisterial Judge Kelly Micozzie-Aguirre in Secane, where she was scheduled for a preliminary arraignment. She was charged with simple assault for allegedly biting a county social worker during a home visit earlier that week.
“I’m glad she’s in custody,” said Chitwood. “She was a dangerous individual and she put other people at risk so she could continue her scourge on the community.”
According to Chitwood, the department had been in touch with the U.S. Marshals to help locate and arrest Quiah. A cell phone Quiah was using was pinged and the Marshals were able to track her down in Philadelphia and notified Philadelphia police. How Quiah got the phone was not immediately known Thursday.
Early Thursday afternoon she was spotted in Philadelphia and led police on a chase that ended in the area of 56th Street and Whitby Avenue in West Philadelphia. Chitwood said a number of cars were damaged when the chase came to a crashing end, pinning Quiah in her vehicle. She was extricated and transported to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center for injuries she sustained.
The vehicle Quiah crashed, according to Chitwood, was not the Kia Sedona van she allegedly stole after fleeing district court and was previously spotted in. Quiah allegedly stole someone’s identification and rented the car that she was captured in, said Chitwood.
In addition to the counts she faces in Upper Darby, a slew of charges are expected in Philadelphia courts for Thursday’s evasion of police. A criminal docket for Quiah in Philadelphia courts was not prepared late Thursday afternoon detailing any charges.
Thursday’s chase is the most recent incident of Quiah evading police.
After a warrant was issued by Upper Darby Police for her arrest for allegedly biting the county worker on Sept. 10, Quiah led police on a chase in the western end of the county. She crashed her car and was treated at Paoli Hospital before going to Micozzie-Aguirre court. On Sept. 13, she was given a sheet to cover-up her hospital gown to appear before the judge and then tossed it on the constable and fled the court building.
She was spotted fullyclothed, but shoeless, in a beauty supply store the next day on the Lansdowne/Upper Darby border talking on a phone and driving a Kia Sedona van.
A few days later she was located in the Kia van in West Philadelphia. An officer on patrol around 46th Street and Fairmount Avenue went up to the vehicle and found Quiah sleeping in it around 4 a.m. When the officer returned to his vehicle, Quiah again fled.
Chitwood said a detainer has been placed on Quiah and expects her to be arraigned in Philadelphia for charges related to the police chase before coming back to Upper Darby.
“It’s good she’s off the street; she’s a dangerous, dangerous woman,” said Chitwood.
On top of Upper Darby and Philadelphia, Quiah faces charges in Sharon Hill, too.
Sharon Hill police also had a warrant out for her arrest and officially filed on Thursday nine charges against her including kidnapping of a minor, burglary, recklessly endangering another person, and fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer. The charges stem from a Sept. 11 incident in the borough, one day after she allegedly bit the county worker.
In the affidavit of probable cause filed by Sharon Hill Detective Vincent Port, Quiah entered a residence in the first block of Barker Avenue and allegedly took a 1-year-old girl from the residence. The girl and a months-old boy living in the house are foster children of the woman who filed the criminal complaint with police. Quiah is the biological mother of the girl, according to the affidavit.
Sharon Hill Police Chief Richard Herron could not be reached Thursday afternoon for further information.