Frisco PD: Shoplifting suspect runs over woman while leaving mall

A shoplifting suspect is in jail after police say she ran over a pedestrian while trying to escape from a Frisco mall.

Police say 57-year-old Cassandra Timmons stole from the JCPenney at Stonebriar Centre and struck a woman in the parking lot before leading police on a chase that ended in Plano Friday afternoon. Records show she’s a career criminal with a history of forgery, theft and credit card abuse.

The hit-and-run happened in a parking lot outside JCPenney around 4:10 p.m. Frisco police say their officers were originally responding to a shoplifting call that quickly escalated into a hit-and-run and a chase.

SKY4 video shows the scene just after police say Timmons hit a parked car and then ran over a 61-year old woman before taking off. The officers who responded to the shoplifting call saw it all happen and chased Timmons to a parking lot along Preston Road.

Plano police helped Frisco officers take Timmons into custody. Multiple witnesses say a woman tried to run after the shoplifting suspect in the parking lot when the hit-and-run happened. Some shoppers were kept from going back to their cars that were roped off in the crime scene for a few hours.

The woman who was run over was taken to the hospital in an unknown condition.

Court records show Timmons has a lengthy criminal history that includes prison time and spans decades, dating back to at least 1979. She's been arrested several times for theft, forgery, identity theft, writing bad checks and credit card abuse.

The commotion outside didn't seem to affect what was happening inside at all. The mall stayed open and appeared to be operating as normal while all the incident was happening outside. Mall reps haven't responded to requests for information on what happened.