2/26/25 Keokuk, IA – Woman Enters Police Yard And Steals A Marked Police Car – Police Pursuit – Cornered In A Yard – Woman Reverses And Smashed Into Another Marked Police Car – Heavy Damage – Arrested

A Keokuk woman was arrested after allegedly leading police on a chase in a stolen police vehicle.

According to a press release from the Keokuk Police Department, a woman visited the department around 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 25 to speak with an officer. After leaving, police allege the woman went to the back lot and entered a marked police car, which she drove north on Highway 61 towards Fort Madison.

A Fort Madison police officer attempted to stop the vehicle around 11:45 p.m., and a vehicle pursuit began, continuing north on Highway 61 before the driver eventually turned around and started driving back toward Keokuk. 

According to a criminal complaint, while eluding officials in the 1700 block of Carroll Street in Keokuk, the driver was cornered in a yard by a police vehicle. The driver then reversed the stolen police vehicle, ramming into a marked police car and causing damage.

Officials said they stopped the vehicle near Oakland Cemetery in Keokuk and arrested the driver, Megan Jo Plowman, 32, of Keokuk.

According to a criminal complaint, one law enforcement officer was injured when they attempted to use a baton to break the window and remove Plowman from the vehicle after she refused to exit. The officer suffered two lacerations to their hand, but didn’t need to be treated at a hospital.

Plowman was charged with the following:

• First-degree theft
• Third-degree attempted burglary
• Driving while barred
• Interference with official acts causing injury
• Assault on a peace officer
• Fifth-degree criminal mischief, two counts