An Apple Valley woman possibly distraught over the recent death of her son repeatedly stabbed herself in the chest with a screwdriver and started her house on fire Thursday morning, police said.
She then led police on a chase that ended after road spikes were deployed to flatten her tires in neighboring Eagan, police said.
Police got a call about 9:15 a.m. saying that Rhonda Arkley, 49, had poured gasoline inside her house at 4754 142nd St. in Apple Valley and was threatening to kill herself.
When officers arrived at the home, flames were coming out of the rear of the house. Arkley, locked in her car outside of the house, was stabbing herself in the chest with a screwdriver, police said.
When she saw the officers, Arkley drove away, triggering a chase that ended in neighboring Eagan, police said.
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Rosemount resident Jim Corrigan was in his car trying to make a left-hand turn from Pilot Knob Road to Cliff Road when a squad car "came whipping down Cliff and backed up onto the sidewalk at the traffic lights."
Corrigan said the officer pulled a set of road spikes out of his trunk and "waited, talking on his radio."
"I could see in my rear-view mirror there was this car coming really fast," Corrigan said.
The car, which he said was a station wagon, "went right over (the spikes) like it was nothing."
According to police, as officers approached Arkley's stopped car, she was using a hammer to pound a screwdriver into her chest.
Arkley, who unsuccessfully ran for the state Senate eight years ago, was taken to Regions Hospital in St. Paul with puncture wounds and burns, police said. A spokesperson with Regions said Arkley's condition was not immediately available.
Apple Valley Police Chief Scott Johnson said police had been to Arkley's house numerous times in the past, most recently on Nov. 17 when her 22-year-old son was found dead in his bedroom. There were no obvious signs of trauma, and police are waiting for a cause of death from the medical examiner, Johnson said.
Criminal records show Arkley served a year of probation after a fifth-degree domestic assault conviction in 2005.
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Apple Valley Fire Chief Nealon Thompson said 30 Apple Valley and Rosemount firefighters worked about two hours to put out the blaze at Arkley's house.
Thompson declared the house "a total loss," adding that the cause of the fire was under investigation.
Arkley's husband, Stuart Arkley, 49, who was in the house when the fire started, ran to a neighbor's home. He also was treated at Regions Hospital, police said.
Johnson said police were investigating the incident, and charges of fleeing a police officer or arson were possible.
Arkley was a DFL candidate for state Senate District 37 in 2002. At the time, she called herself very progressive and said she was active in environmental and atheist organizations. She was studying English literature at Metropolitan State University and had volunteered with the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, she said at the time.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
