A Dallas woman was charged for the third time in 2024 just before the New Year in the Rockmart-area after Polk County Police clocked her going well over the speed limit on Highway 278 heading into the county.

Officers had to physically restrain Ashley Sharone Portis, 39, of a Dallas address on Sunday night, December 29, 2024 after they stopped her at the Handy Andy in Rockmart following her speedy trip into the city limits of Rockmart.

Per PCPD, they began to follow her after she sped past an officer on speed patrol on Hwy. 278 at Yorkville Highway (101 South) on just after 7 p.m. and clocked Portis going 80 mph in a 65 mph zone. After passing the officer, Portis began “switching lanes at an unreasonable rate and causing other motorists to activate their braking systems to slow to avoid a traffic crash with the violator (Portis’) vehicle.”

Eventually Portis took an unexpected left turn onto Goodyear Avenue and sped through the residential portion, and then ran the yellow light at Piedmont Avenue and went into the opposite lane, and pulled into the Handy Andy.

Once she was stopped, the officer was confronted by Portis who “quickly exited the vehicle and walked around the car while asking ‘What are you doing?’” and then trying to avoid the traffic stop by walking back to her driver’s door, and ignored the officer telling her to stop.

“(Portis) then entered the vehicle and closed the driver door while simultaneously rolling the driver window up,” the report stated. Portis locked the door, and police stood by and let her know she was under arrest while the officer tried to open her door from the inside by sticking his arm within.

The officer threatened to use their taser on Portis if she continued to resist arrest, and she was “assisted out of her vehicle” and “ushered (Portis) against her vehicle belly first in order to place her in a set of handcuffs.”

Portis continued to resist police, even sticking her leg out to avoid being closed inside the back of the PCPD vehicle that took her onward to the Polk County Jail by the end of the incident.

Police found a male child in the backseat of the vehicle, and due to a personal connection between Portis and a clerk at the store the child was left in the clerk’s care, along with her car at the Handy Andy.

Following her arrest, police did note in their report that “other officers and myself have cited (Portis) in the past (June and November of this year) for her excessive speeding and other traffic violations.”

PCPD charged Portis with misdemeanors for reckless driving, obstructing law enforcement officers, failure to maintain lane, speeding in excess of maximum limits and expired registration.

Portis was later released on a $4,500 at the beginning of the week.