MOULTRIE, Ga. — A Moultrie woman racked up a lengthy list of charges — including aggravated assault on an officer — after, police said, she apparently attempted to buy drugs and then fled with her toddler in the car.

The woman later abandoned her ride behind a residence and ran, carrying the little boy, into a business where officers found her in the office.

While trying to pull the blue Chevrolet Trailblazer onto the roadway after the alleged drug buy, the driver, later identified as Miranda Lee Johnson, struck the arm of an officer who was reaching in to turn off the ignition.

The unusual series of events started at about 3:10 p.m.  Wednesday when two Moultrie Police Department investigators noticed the Trailblazer parked facing the wrong direction in the roadway in the 800 block of Sixth Street Southeast.

The area is known to be one where drug transactions take place, said police Maj. Tonero Bender.

Several men who were standing at the driver’s door began walking away “at a fast pace” when the two officers approached, police said. One of the officers recognized Johnson from a previous arrest and knew that she had a suspended driver’s license.

Johnson then got inside the Trailblazer, and as police told her to stop she began driving in reverse while saying, “I can’t go back to jail.” It was at that time the officer reached inside for the ignition switch and she accelerated, spinning tires, according to police reports.

The driver’s front door post struck Sgt. Justin Lindsay’s arm and drove it into the rear door post before he was struck by the driver’s exterior mirror.

The two officers got into their car and followed Johnson east on 10th Avenue Southeast, where she ran a stop sign making a turn onto Eighth Avenue, police said. She then ran stop signs at Ninth Avenue and Seventh Avenue, where she turned to travel east.

After seeing the Trailblazer turn onto 12th Street the officers tried to take a route to put them in position ahead of her. When they saw her again, this time driving on the wrong side of the roadway traveling toward Cox Elementary School, they ended the pursuit.

Driving east on 11th Avenue Southeast, where they had last seen Johnson driving at high speed, they saw where the Trailblazer had struck a street sign at 16th Street and then got back on the roadway.

On South Boulevard an officer noticed spin parks next to a driveway leading to a mobile home. In the back they found the Trailblazer abandoned.

A witness told them that the driver ran carrying the child toward Charlie Horne’s Paint and Body Shop at 211 Edwards St. After finding her in the office they placed Johnson in handcuffs and checked the condition of the toddler, who is less than 2 years old.

Police said they found inside the Trailblazer a glass smoking pipe commonly used for smoking crack cocaine. They turned the toddler over to a relative who came to the scene.

Lindsay was treated at Colquitt Regional Medical Center and released.

Police charged Johnson, 32, 1008 Holmes Drive, with aggravated assault, driving under the influence, driving under the influence while endangering the life of a child, obstructing or hindering law enforcement officer, fleeing or attempting to elude police officer, reckless driving, driving on the wrong side of the road, cruelty to children, hit-and-run, possession of a drug-related object, driving while license suspended or revoked and six counts failure to stop at stop sign.