#Woman accused of stealing NYC mail truck sent to mental hospital

The homeless woman accused of stealing a US Postal Service truck and slamming it into several cars in Brooklyn was committed to a mental health hospital by a judge on Saturday.

Martha Thaxton was arraigned in Brooklyn Criminal Court on grand larceny, reckless endangerment and burglary charges for taking the truck on a joyride through Bedford-Stuyvesant a day earlier.

Judge Hilary Gingold ordered Thaxton, 21, to be civilly committed and taken to a hospital for an assessment.

Thaxton managed to slip behind the wheel of the Postal Service truck when the driver got out to deliver a package on Fulton Street and Patchen Avenue around 6 p.m. Friday, prosecutor George Rossman said.

The stunned driver returned just as Thaxton was driving away with his truck, leaving him desperately running behind it trying to catch her, authorities said.

When he couldn’t, the driver flagged down some nearby cops, who had him hop in their vehicle before they chased Thaxton, who was sideswiping cars and eventually struck another motorist stopped at a red light.

That’s when the officers approached Thaxton with their guns drawn and ordered her out of the truck — only to watch as she once again took off, prosecutors said.

Officers gave chase again before boxing the mail truck in with their patrol car. They were eventually forced to smash the truck’s window and pepper-spray her, Rossman noted.

Thaxton was treated at the scene.

No injuries were reported during what Rossman called Thaxton’s “vehicular mayhem.”