Police: Woman crashes into store, makes threats with knife

It was a chaotic scene Wednesday at a Kaufman convenience store.

Police say a woman repeatedly drove her car in and out of the store, threatened customers with a butcher knife and nearly hit a police officer.

The incident happened at a Circle K off of 175 and Washington.

April Allen and Cristina Gomez stopped by to grab something to drink when they heard a loud pop.

“We heard someone hit the pump, and I was like, ‘OK, Somebody hit the gas pump,’” said Allen. “Thought it was an accident, but she kept backing up and doing it six times, on and on. I thought we were going to explode."

Police say 38-year-old Tisha Beard then backed into the store, breaking through the glass three times.

When customers and employees tried to help, police say Beard swung at them with large knife.

“She was telling everyone, ‘Get away from me! Get away from me!’” said Allen.

Captain Ed Black with the Kaufman Police Department says that Beard nearly hit him as she drove off, eventually losing control of her car, and ran into a Coca-Cola truck.

That's when officers surrounded her and say they were forced to break her windshield.

“She was trying to cut herself,” said Black. “I don't know if she succeeded or not. Taser was deployed on her to keep her from stabbing herself."

Cell phone video shows Beard on the ground in handcuffs. Police say she wasn't in her right mind and suspect she was under the influence of drugs, even though they didn't find any in her car.

“I've never seen anything like it, trying to take a fuel pump out and hurt themselves,” said witness Marquis Washington.

The story gets weirder -- witnesses say when Beard crashed into the store, she got out of her car and started spraying air freshener into her gas tank.

Police say when the suspect was arrested, she screamed that her stove was on at home, which could burn her home down.

A fire crew checked and that wasn't the case.

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