A woman who allegedly fled from deputies over the weekend in a gated community in Rancho Santa Fe, then stole a couple’s car and struck one of the victims with it while trying to evade arrest, was behind bars Monday and facing a slate of possible criminal charges. The events that led to the arr est of Laura Maria Partida, 41, began shortly before 7 p.m. Saturday, when patrol personnel responded to a report of a suspicious vehicle in the 6500 block of Rancho Santa Fe Farms Drive, according to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies arrived to find Partida apparently talking to herself while sitting inside the car, which was “parked oddly” across a driveway with its engine running, Lt. Colin Hebeler said. After Partida ignored the deputies’ attempts to speak with her, they laid out a spike strip in front of the vehicle and parked a patrol cruiser behind it in an attempt to prevent the suspect from driving off. Partida, however, managed to maneuver the car around the law enforcement vehicle and accelerate away, running over the tire-flattening device in the process, Hebeler said. The suspect then allegedly drove through the neighborhood at high speed for a time before losing control of the car, sending it crashing into a guardrail. At that point, she got out of the vehicle and fled on foot, according to sheriff’s officials. Reaching the 7300 block of Saint Andrews Road, Partida entered an open residential garage, where she encountered a retirement-age couple preparing to leave for dinner. She then allegedly took their keys and got into their car, the lieutenant said. “As Partida attempted to drive away in their vehicle, one of the residents was struck twice,” Hebeler said. “Sheriff’s deputies and private security officers quickly detained Partida before she could flee the property. The victim was transported to a hospital. where she was treated for non-life- threatening injuries.” Investigators subsequently determined that the suspect allegedly had crashed a stolen vehicle on northbound Interstate 5 near Del Mar earlier in the day. “As a bystander attempted to assist her (at the site of the freeway crash), Partida took their vehicle, leaving them stranded on the shoulder,” Hebeler said. Partida was booked into Las Colinas women’s jail in Santee on suspicion of assault, burglary, carjacking, auto theft, elder abuse, hit-and- run, driving while intoxicated and providing false identity to a peace officer. She was being held on bail of $1.025 million pending arraignment, scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. ...read more read less