Oakland woman linked to fatal shooting is held
A woman who led police on a car chase during a vehicle theft investigation where a deputy was fatally shot was ordered held on $150,000 bail.
Priscilla Prendez, 23, appeared Friday in Sacramento County Superior Court on felony vehicle theft and evasion charges. The Oakland woman did not enter a plea.
Prendez is accused of leading police on a roughly 20-mile chase Wednesday in a stolen car.
Police then went back to the Sacramento hotel where the chase began to check a room registered in Prendez’s name.
Thomas Daniel Little- cloud, 32, is accused of firing a high-powered rifle at officers through the hotel room door and shooting another officer as he fled.
Sacramento County sheriff’s Deputy Robert French was killed and two California Highway Patrol officers were wounded.
Littlecloud was also injured in the shootout. He is in critical condition at a hospital and has not been charged.
At her Friday court appearance, Prendez was assigned a public defender after she told the judge she could not afford an attorney.
Prendez has two prior vehicle theft convictions. Police have not disclosed details about her relationship to Littlecloud.
The incident Wednesday began when police went to the hotel to investigate a car theft ring. Officers spotted Prendez and another woman drive away in what they believed to be a stolen vehicle and began a highspeed pursuit. She was arrested following the chase.
They soon determined Prendez was on probation and returned to the hotel to search her room, where the shootout ensued.
The other woman was detained and released.
Prendez is scheduled to appear in court again Sept. 11 at 8:30 a.m.