A wild car chase through the streets of Brentwood ended in chaos and destruction early Friday morning when a suspect in a white van, fleeing from police, rammed into oncoming traffic on the 405 Freeway. The Los Angeles Fire Department reported that firefighters responded to the scene at approximately 5:25 A.M. after the vehicle, pursued by the police, crashed into parked cars and eventually collided with a police car, injuring four officers, with one requiring hospitalization, as stated in LAFD's announcement.
The pursuit, which started in Venice following a disturbance call, escalated when the driver started heading northbound in the southbound lanes. The van charged against the flow of traffic, colliding with a big rig and two other vehicles near Wilshire Boulevard. The chase suspect was taken into custody after a harrowing sequence of events where multiple PIT maneuvers attempted by the police failed to stop the rampaging motorist, according to a report by KABC.
During the pursuit, aerial footage captured by Sky5 showed the driver attempting to ram pursuing patrol vehicles and at one point, shockingly turning around to chase an LAPD car in a dangerous game of cat and mouse before continuing the wrong-way sprint down the freeway "This is nuts. She’s chasing a black and white. She’s got a couple of other cars behind her … Look at this. This is just craziness," said Sky5 reporter Mike Case, as reported by KTLA.
The conclusion of this disorderly chase saw the suspect, who has not been officially identified, climbing out of the van and onto a big rig where she was apprehended and later hospitalized, at least two officers were also hospitalized with injuries, "Nobody knew what was going on until we got hit," a driver told NBC Los Angeles. The aftermath forced the closure of most northbound lanes, significantly disrupting the morning commute for several hours.
