NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A woman led Nashville police on an unusual hours-long low-speed "chase" Tuesday morning after being found asleep in a stolen vehicle, at times traveling as slow as 7 miles per hour while morning commuters maneuvered around the pursuit.
One day later, a woman named Miriam Harris identified herself as the owner of the stolen Nissan Altima — and the former friend of the woman in question, 28-year-old Katlyn Wray.
"We've been friends for 20 years. I've used her car, she's used mine, but to the point where I've never been in this situation with her," she explained. "Something told me in my head to look on my phone, on Facebook, and I seen the video from Channel 5, where it showed the high-speed chase, or the slow high-speed chase that she was going on, and I'm like that's my car!"
She'd only had it for two days, but she let Katlyn borrow the car to get her license and apply for a job. She even gave her some money. But when Katlyn was supposed to return it, she never showed.
Miriam reported it to police, and officers later found Katlyn sleeping in the car. When they confronted her, Katlyn took off, but not before driving over spike strips — leading police on a very slow, 4-hour trip.
Tennessee Highway Patrol officers eventually veered her off I-24 and arrested her.
"Our relationship, it was good. Even though she's been in and out of jail, our friendship...every time when she called me, I would answer her from jail, and it's like now she's done this to me," said Miriam.
Miriam now has to walk an hour to work. She's hoping insurance will help her deal with the aftermath and that she'll be able to get a new car.
"It's hard having one car and then having three kids on top of that," she explained.
In the meantime, Katlyn is looking at a multitude of charges, including theft, reckless endangerment, and evading arrest.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at nikki.hauser@newschannel5.com.
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