A Riverside woman remains in custody in Platte City after a low-speed chase crossing county lines and making headlines last week.
Costanza
Christina Costanza, 37, is charged in Platte County with resisting arrest and tampering with a motor vehicle due to the Thursday, Jan. 16 event. She is being held at the Platte County Detention Center on $50,000 cash-only bond. As of press time, no charges had been filed against her in Jackson County.
The chase began at around 10 a.m. on High Drive in Riverside, where a woman was warming up her white Subaru to give an acquaintance a ride, reportedly to a drug rehab program. That acquaintance was Costanza, who allegedly jumped into the car and drove off. Police picked up the chase shortly after, with the pursuit traveling – at mostly fairly low speeds - through Riverside, North Kansas City and then across the river into downtown Kansas City. The Platte County Sheriff’s Office took the lead on the pursuit, which started at high rates of speed and drastically slowed once it crossed the Missouri River into heavier traffic.
The driver plowed through spike strips and kept driving the vehicle on the rims, slamming into a Jackson County deputy’s vehicle, shearing off its door and nearly striking the officer with the car. A news helicopter over the scene recorded the deputy chasing the vehicle on foot and striking it with his baton.
The vehicle was eventually stopped around noon on Independence Avenue when the car was cornered and police subdued the suspect with non-lethal rounds. Costanza wasn’t done with the fight and had to be restrained and fitted with a face shield when she was taken to the hospital. There, she remained combative and staff realized she had hidden razor blades inside her bra.
Sgt. Brent Holland of the Riverside Police Department said the incident was unusual as most suspects immediately flee across state lines into Kansas.