Astonishing video shows Texas woman steal cop car and take police on 100mph chase

This is the extraordinary moment an arrested shoplifter manages to free herself from handcuffs, steal a police car and lead officers on a 100mph chase through Texas.

Toscha Sponsler was captured on multiple cameras making her audacious 20-minute escape bid before crashing spectacularly as she lost control of the stolen cop car.

Footage of the incident was posted online by Lufkin Police Department, who say Sponsler at one point reached for a police shotgun mechanically locked to the vehicle.

Officers say the chase unfolded after they had been called to reports of a possible shoplifter in Lufkin on 2 September.

Sponsler, of nearby Pollok, could be seen being arrested, handcuffed with her hands behind her back and put in the back of a large patrol car.

A camera in the police vehicle then captures the moment the 33-year-old suspect manages to free herself from the handcuffs and clamber through a window partition through to the front seats.

As unaware officers stand outside searching through a bag of stolen goods, Sponsler gets behind the wheel and makes a dramatic getaway.

Bodycam footage from one of the officers present sees astonished deputies chase after the patrol car on foot, with one heard shouting: "God dang ... what the hell?"

The vehicle speeds off onto the highway, with numerous police cars then joining the 23-minute chase that ensued.

At one point, dashcam footage from one pursuing patrol vehicle captures the moment Sponsler manages to swerve out of the way of a police stinger trap.

She also nearly collided head on with two Lufkin officers and another constable during the pursuit, police said.

The chase ended in the town of Zavalla after a trooper used a Pursuit Intervention Technique manoeuvre to make her lose control of the vehicle.

Video from the vehicle carrying Sponsler captures the moment she is forced into the high-speed spin, with officers then smashing into their own patrol car to detain her.

She refused medical treatment at the scene and was taken to the Angelina County Jail where she remains on a collective $18,000 bond.

Sponsler is charged with escape causing serious bodily injury/threat of a deadly weapon, aggravated assault against a public servant, possession of the drug methamphetamine, evading arrest with a vehicle with a previous conviction and unauthorised use of a vehicle.