CLEVELAND, Tenn. (AP) -- The TBI says a woman who slashed a Bradley County deputy and then stole his police car died of gunshot wounds.

Authorities say 30-year-old Armetta Foster of Sanford, Fla., died at Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga on Saturday after crashing the police cruiser on Interstate 75 in Cleveland, Tenn.

Bradley County Sheriff's Deputy Dustin Patrick was slashed on the hand as he talked to Foster after finding her and her children walking along the highway. As Foster took off in the police car, Patrick fired several shots. The car ran through a fence and into a tree.

Sylvia Foster told the Chattanooga Times Free Press by telephone from Florida that Armetta Foster was her niece and was taking the children to stay with their grandmother in Kentucky for the summer.

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