LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Behind bars and facing multiple felonies, Lasielle White is at the center of Tuesday’s cross-county police chase.
The incident began with a domestic violence call. In an emergency protective order filed by her boyfriend, White allegedly tried to stab and run him over with her vehicle. She then attempted to run over firefighters responding to the incident.
For White’s family, the details surrounding White’s outburst have been hard to take in.
“It is so hurtful, it's felt like someone told me she's died because this is just not her behavior,” said White’s aunt, LaQuita Washington.
Washington raised Lasielle White and watched her grow into a college grad, a social worker, and a mother of two.
“She's not a violent person, she's never been a violent person, if anything she's been very helpful to her job, the youth that she works with, and the clientele that she has to deal with,” said Washington.
According to Washington, White reached her breaking point in a battle with mental illness, sending her on a violent rampage Tuesday, attempting to harm her boyfriend, the father of her children.
In his EPO, her boyfriend said, “Lasielle and myself were in a heated argument where we pushed and hit each other.”
It wasn’t until the subsequent police chase that Washington got the call about her niece’s situation.
“On the day of the incident, of the police chase, we called the police department to let them know, please do not hurt her because she's in a mental health crisis right now.”
Washington told LEX 18 that White had been navigating her mental illness by seeking therapy and testing different medications, unfortunately with mixed results. She hopes to see White makes strides with her mental health.
“That's what I'm hoping, that they put her in an in-house treatment facility where she can receive professional help, one-on-one therapy, medications to be adjusted…but she needs one-on-one medical therapy, she needs that,” said Washington. “She has an 8-year-old and a 2-year-old, they were her world, and I'm sure that they're missing her.”
Lasielle’s bond has been set at $75,000.
