NORTHWOOD – Some breakups are probably for the best.

A woman was arrested this morning following a fight with her ex-boyfriend that began outside his apartment, stretched down Route 4 during a car chase and ended in the police department’s parking lot, Chief Glen Drolet said.

“All I know is I heard yelling and screaming in our parking lot and someone banging on our back door,” Drolet said.

Alyssa Kelley, 21, of Deerfield, was arrested after police pieced together what they believe happened.

Drolet said Kelley and her ex-boyfriend recently broke up, but came together this morning at his apartment above Susty’s Café on Route 4. They began arguing after she refused to return spare keys to his apartment and car.

The pair went to the café’s parking lot, where the fight continued as Kelley got into her car and her boyfriend reached in through her window trying to get his keys back, Drolet said. Kelley rolled up her window, catching her ex-boyfriend’s arm before he pushed it down and opened her door, Drolet said, leading Kelley to drive forward, knocking the ex-boyfriend to the ground.

Drolet said Kelley then sped off, but remained nearby as she phoned police around 9:30 a.m.

“Apparently she may have been hanging around somewhere watching his apartment,” Drolet said, because the boyfriend soon pulled onto Route 4 heading to the police station and Kelley gave chase.

The ex-boyfriend, who Drolet declined to name, drove past the police station and pulled onto Kelsey Mill Road, where he tried to turn around in a driveway. Drolet said Kelley blocked his car with hers, got out and started screaming at him and jumped on his hood.

More arguing ensued before each got in their respective cars and headed to the police station, Drolet said, noting that Kelley bumped the ex-boyfriend’s car at a stop sign along the way.

“They both basically chased each other back to the PD and we separated them in the parking lot,” he said.

Kelley was charged with one misdemeanor count each of simple assault, reckless conduct and criminal mischief. She was released on $5,000 personal recognizance bail and is scheduled for arraignment Dec. 7 in Candia District Court.