Kanitha Jones, 38, is accused of crashing a stolen Dodge pickup into the Longhorn Steakhouse restaurant in Minot on Tuesday morning and causing extensive damage, according to police. No one in the restaurant was injured.

According to police and a probable cause affidavit filed with the court, Jones had been driving at a high rate of speed on U.S. Highway 52 heading east towards Minot. She cut off one driver and the vehicle hit the ditches in the off ramp heading towards the business. The Dodge pickup went about six feet into the air before crashing into the north side of the Longhorn Steakhouse at about 80 mph. Another witness reported seeing an African American man trying to push the vehicle out of the building. Then the pickup took off toward 16th Street SW at a high rate of speed, traveled over the grass, and then headed south on 16h Street.

Another witness said there were two people in the pickup and someone else said the driver was the woman. The pickup had been reported stolen in Mountrail County. The pickup was abandoned at a construction site near 54th Avenue SW and 16th Street SW, just southwest of the city limits.

Other witnesses reported seeing the passenger getting out of the vehicle and walking east on 54th Avenue. The female driver then got out and offered a worker at the construction site money and asked him not to call the police.

According to the affidavit, two rifles were located at the crash site at the business. Police also found a suitcase filled with women’s clothing and an empty syringe.

Police located Jones and placed her under arrest. She was taken to the hospital to be checked out and then booked into the Ward County Jail. When she was searched at the jail, a correctional officer found two checks belonging to the owner of the stolen vehicle in Jones’ jacket pocket.

Police said Jones is from Florida but online court records list her address as Minot.

Jones is charged in district court in Ward County with possession of a stolen vehicle, a Class C felony. She is charged in Minot Municipal Court with driving with a revoked driver’s license, a Class B misdemeanor, reckless driving, a Class B misdemeanor, and leaving the scene of a property damage accident, an infraction. She was also cited in Minot Municipal Court for driving without liability insurance.