Fugitive crashes car onto porch

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Whit Johnson reportingA woman was sitting in her living room Saturday night when a car slammed into her home. It turns out, the driver was on the run from police.

Earlier in the evening, South Salt Lake Police had tried to pull over the driver, but she took off. Officers chased her, but that pursuit eventually was called off.

Later, the same driver crashed onto the front porch of the home near 3600 South and 1300 East. "I knew what had happened," the woman inside the house, who asked not to be identified, said. "I knew that a car had to have hit our house."

The suspect immediately fled the scene on foot, and a multi-agency search effort for her began. Eventually police found the woman hiding in a nearby home.

It was a frightening experience for the people who live in the home that got hit. "Screeching, and I heard ripping of metal, and then I heard a loud bang against my house," the victim said.

The woman was in the living room when the accident happened, but when she went outside to see if anyone was hurt, the driver had already fled. "So yeah, it was frightening. It was scary," she said.

As the car came along 1300 East, the driver lost control, plowed through a fence and hit the house. Had the car hit just a little bit to the right, it would have gone straight through a window, and damage would have been much worse. "It would have been the plate-glass window that would have been in my lap, basically," the victim said.

Lt. Jason Johnson of the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office said, "Fortunately, there's a large cement porch on the front of this residence."

The sheriff's office and numerous police departments quickly set up a perimeter. Evidence found in the car and K-9 units eventually led authorities to a home just down the street.

"They found an adult female in her clothes hiding in the bathtub," Lt. Johnson said.

The woman is 44-year-old Tina Chidester. She's wanted for outstanding theft and drug warrants. Authorities also found Chidester in possession of meth. She's now in the Salt Lake County Jail facing a number of charges.

"Very fortunate that the car didn't continue through and injure someone here," Lt. Johnson said.

We also talked to the man who owns the home where Chidester was found in the bathtub. He claims he didn't know she was in there. He says he's known her for a long time, and he's extremely sorry for what she's done.