SOUTH SALT LAKE — Newly obtained police video shows how a wild ride ended for a teen forced to drive with a woman high on drugs.

Alyson Kyle was on her way to meet up with family members for a birthday dinner on May 18 when a woman jumped in her car and commanded her to drive. For the next 30 minutes, Kyle — despite being terrified — remained calm and was able to facilitate her own rescue with the help of her parents.

"I was just talking to her like the way I talk to the kids I work with, because I was trying to calm her down and keep the situation from getting worse than it already was," Kyle said.

The 18-year-old was stopped at a red light at 210 W. 3900 South when Tracy Carol Freeman, 54, approached her vehicle.

"All that I could see when she was approaching me was that my car doors were unlocked," Kyle said.

Freeman opened the passenger door, jumped in, grabbed Kyle's arm, and told her to drive. Each time Kyle tried to pull over, Freeman would hit her several times on her arm, demanding her to keep driving. Kyle said she "did not want to find out if (Freeman) had a weapon."

Freeman also grabbed Kyle's cellphone, but Kyle convinced her to let her call her family to tell them she would be late to her mother's birthday dinner.

"I was just trying to get my mom to understand that I didn't know this woman," Kyle said.

Her mother, Lois Collins, said she initially couldn't figure out how to help her.

"All I could do was keep talking to her and keep asking her questions," Collins said. "I felt like she was trying to provide us with some clues."

Collins kept her daughter on the line while her husband used his cellphone to call police. Her other daughter, who was also in the car with her parents, jumped into action and began Googling clues that could help pinpoint Kyle's location.

"Everybody started getting this increasing sense of urgency," Collins said.

The next 16 minutes were terrifying.

"I was praying. I was literally praying," Collins said.

Meanwhile, Kyle looked for a way out and stopped the car in front of Cruise America, 4125 State St. in South Salt Lake. She and Freeman both got out of the car. Though Kyle could have left, she said feared Freeman might run into traffic and get hurt, or worse.

"She wasn't safe to be with me, but she also wasn't safe to be with herself," Kyle said.

Within minutes, Kyle's family and police arrived. Police body camera and dashcam video show how it took several officers and a full-body restraint to finally get Freeman under control. She field-tested positive for meth.

Collins said when she saw that her daughter was safe, she "felt so relieved and so scared and so exhilarated, and kind of filled with wonder that we had pulled it off somehow."

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Once Kyle was with her family, her mother said Kyle finally allowed herself to break down.

"She had been trying so hard to keep calm," Collins said. "She was just weeping."

Months later, Kyle is still trying to make sense of a senseless crime.

"I've gone to therapy a couple of times just to deal with it that way, and I'm very lucky because my family has been very supportive," she said.

Freeman now faces a prison sentence of 1 to 15 years for a crime she said in court she doesn't even remember committing.

"It's been a tremendous shock to me, as well as completely out of character, and I just want to apologize for any pain and suffering," Freeman said during her sentencing hearing.

She also expressed gratitude to the young woman who kept them both safe. "I truly feel Ms. Kyle saved my life that day," Freeman said.

Kyle said she appreciated the apology. "I want her to be in a state where she is in control of herself, where she's happy and healthy and safe," she said.

KSL contacted Freeman in prison and she said in a letter that she is "hopeful and grateful for my chance to improve my physical and spiritual health while in prison."

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