Woman injured in jump from police car

ST. PETERSBURG -- A 41-year-old woman was in a coma Thursday after she jumped out the window of a patrol car on her way to jail for a DUI charge, police said.

Lisa Barbella, 41, of St. Petersburg was in critical condition Thursday at Bayfront Medical Center.

Police officers said they rolled down the car's right rear window to bring in fresh air after Barbella urinated in the back seat.

St. Petersburg officers said they pulled over Barbella's car about 2:45 a.m. because she was driving erratically on Fourth Street N near 76th Avenue N.

Police said Barbella was acting oddly, so officers searched her car and found two rocks of crack cocaine. Police said Barbella struggled when they arrested her, kicking and punching at least two officers until they subdued her with pepper spray.

Officers cuffed Barbella's hands behind her back and put her in the back of a police cruiser, where she urinated and yelled until officers calmed her down and put a seat belt on her, said St. Petersburg police spokesman George Kajtsa. Two officers, Robby Arkovich and Janie Staples, got in the car to take Barbella to the Pinellas County Jail. Police said Barbella, still handcuffed, slipped free of the seat belt and jumped out of the car as it turned from 49th Street N onto 144th Avenue N near the jail.

The St. Petersburg Police Department will review the case to make sure officers followed procedures.

"There is no policy against having an open window in a cruiser," Kajtsa said. "She was handcuffed and was restrained in the seat belt. They did everything they could do to keep her safe back there."

Court records show that Barbella has a history of drug arrests, and she is on probation after being convicted of possessing cocaine last year. However, Barbella's relatives don't believe the police account of what happened and want a full investigation.

"She is a drug addict. I'm not surprised that she put up a fight," said her brother, Dan Barbella of New Jersey. "But she wouldn't have jumped from the car. Not possible. She would not do that."

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