DETROIT – A Sterling Heights woman who pleaded guilty to third-degree fleeing and eluding after a wild police chase April 4 across parts of Detroit's east side and Hamtramck will have to undergo treatment for drug abuse and mental health issues as part of her sentencing.
A judge ordered Valerie Mathews to undergo 90-120 days of residential treatment in the county mental health program. She will be on probation for two years. The judge also is requiring Mathews checks in with him at least once a month to show she is progressing.
ORIGINAL REPORT: Woman tackled, arrested after police chase on Detroit's east side
Police chased Mathews, 28, as she drove a dark blue van April 4 across yards and through tight neighborhood streets. The driver eluded police vehicles until finally bailing on foot near I-75 and Caniff in Hamtramck.
She did not get far on foot as Hamtramck police officer Nikole Jabour tackled her against a fence. Mathews was arrested and charged.
Mathews attorney said Monday during her sentencing that she is truly embarrassed and accepts responsibility for her actions.
VIDEO: Woman tackled by officers after police chase
Mathews under investigation for alleged role in teen's death
Local 4 learned Mathews was being investigated for her alleged role in the death of a 19-year-old Port Huron woman. Meagan Margarette Williams' body had been dumped in the lot days earlier as her family frantically searched for their missing daughter.
Sources told Local 4 that Williams might have been saved if the person who dumped her body had taken to her a hospital or police station. But instead, police suspect Mathews dumped Williams' body and ran.
Mathews calls herself "VL BADD." Sources said Mathews texted her friends that she had dumped the teen's body. Word eventually got back to Sterling Heights investigators. When they found Mathews, she led them to the body, sources said.
Mathews has been under investigation for the dumping of Williams' body ever since, and that's why she desperately tried to escape from police officers, sources said.
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