Woman Who Breached Two Mar-A-Lago Security Checkpoints To Appear In Mental Health Court
PALM BEACH (CBSMiami/AP) - A Connecticut woman who led a Florida Highway Patrol trooper on a chase which blasted through two security checkpoints on a road near President Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort made her first court appearance.
During the Monday proceeding, Hannah Roemhild's attorney told the judge she has a history of mental illness and was off her medication at the time of the incident.
The judge agreed to transfer the case to mental health court and a hearing was set for Friday. He also denied her bond.
Roemhild, 30, is charged with two state counts of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer after Friday's wild chase through Palm Beach and past the president's Mar-a-Lago club. She is being held at the Palm Beach County jail without bond. Officials have said Roemhild was "obviously impaired" and they do not believe she targeted the president or Mar-a-Lago.
Friday's events began just before noon when a Florida Highway Patrol trooper working an off-duty security shift at the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach approached Roemhild as she danced on the roof of her rented Jeep SUV in the high-end resort's parking lot. She jumped inside and refused to acknowledge his taps on the glass.
She then put the car in reverse and drove away. The trooper smashed the window and tried to grab the steering wheel to prevent her from leaving, but she sped away, leading him on a chase south down swanky Ocean Drive toward Mar-a-Lago, 3 miles away, at speeds in excess of 70 mph.
Authorities there say she swerved around concrete barriers and through two checkpoints, endangering the lives of Secret Service agents and Palm Beach County deputies staffing them. They opened fire, breaking out her back window. At this point, the trooper ended his pursuit, fearing lives would be endangered if it continued.
At some point, Roemheld picked up a female relative before automatic license plate readers soon tracked her to a motel near Palm Beach International Airport. A trooper tackled her as she tried to flee into her room.
Roemheld, a singer who has appeared in several Connecticut operas, said on social media recently that she had an unspecified performance scheduled in Palm Beach this past week.
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
