Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies chased an alleged burglary suspect at speeds up to 95 miles per hour across the freeways and surface streets of East Los Angeles Thursday, in a pursuit that included a gas station pit stop, an apparent license plate swap, and a second driver who eventually surrendered to California Highway Patrol officers in Boyle Heights.
The chase unfolded on the northbound 5 Freeway near East Los Angeles, where deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department began tailing the suspect, according to CBS News Los Angeles. As the pursuit stretched on, the suspect got onto the westbound 10 Freeway before exiting near downtown, weaving around other drivers on the roadway, per the outlet's report.
At one point the suspect pulled off the freeway and stopped at a Shell gas station at the intersection of South Santa Fe Avenue and East Olympic Boulevard on Thursday, where the vehicle appeared to contain two other people. Aerial footage from SkyCAL showed the suspect pumping gas into the vehicle before getting back on the road, the station's report notes.
A Mid-Chase Plate Swap Caught From the Air
SkyCAL's aerial view also captured the suspect appearing to change the vehicle's license plate during the stop, according to the same account. That kind of plate swap is a familiar evasion tactic; under California Vehicle Code Section 4463, knowingly altering, forging, or displaying a false or swapped plate with intent to defraud is a wobbler offense that can carry up to three years in prison, according to Eisner Gorin LLP. Investigators have not said what, if anything, was found on the plate or whether it had been reported stolen.
Cameras also caught a second driver, in a separate vehicle, appearing to hand something to the suspect as SkyCAL tracked the scene from above. That second driver then merged onto the 5 Freeway in Boyle Heights and sped along East Los Angeles surface streets before ultimately surrendering to California Highway Patrol officers, per the CBS Los Angeles report. What exactly was exchanged between the two drivers has not been disclosed, and the exact circumstances connecting the second driver to the underlying burglary case remain part of an investigation that CBS Los Angeles says is still unfolding.
What the Suspect Could Be Facing
After leaving the gas station, the suspect turned back toward Boyle Heights on surface streets, continuing to elude deputies before the pursuit's outcome was reported. Driving up to 95 mph and swerving through freeway traffic to evade a pursuing officer can be charged as felony reckless evading under California Vehicle Code Section 2800.2, a wobbler punishable by up to three years in state prison when done with willful or wanton disregard for safety, according to Cron, Israels & Stark.
The underlying allegation driving the chase is burglary, though it remains unclear whether investigators are treating it as a residential or commercial case — a distinction that matters under California law. Penal Code Section 459 splits burglary into first-degree residential burglary, a mandatory felony carrying up to six years in prison and counting as a strike offense, and second-degree commercial burglary, which prosecutors can file as either a misdemeanor or a felony carrying up to three years, per Long Beach Defense Attorney. Statewide data suggests forced-entry burglaries account for roughly 60% of urban burglary incidents in recent years, with non-residential break-ins making up a major share of property crime cases, according to Manshoory Law.
A Familiar Route Through East LA
Thursday's chase is at least the third high-speed pursuit through the East Los Angeles freeway corridor that Hoodline has covered this year. In July, a white Jeep tore down the 5 Freeway near 100 mph as officers hunted a robbery suspect, and in March a U-Haul box truck pursuit that began in El Monte rolled through Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles before CHP deployed a spike strip near Downey-Norwalk. Both cases, like Thursday's, saw California Highway Patrol officers step in as the chase crossed onto state freeways — a standard handoff along corridors where Interstate 5 and Interstate 10 intersect with dense surface-street traffic.
Under LASD's Manual of Policy and Procedures, deputies are only authorized to initiate vehicle pursuits for known or suspected serious felonies, a category that departmental guidelines explicitly define to include residential burglaries, serial commercial burglaries causing significant loss, or violent offenses. That policy requires deputies to weigh the public risk of a high-speed chase against the urgency of catching a burglary suspect — a balancing act evident in Thursday's pursuit, which relied heavily on SkyCAL's aerial tracking to document the suspect's movements from above rather than forcing a bumper-to-bumper chase on crowded streets.
As of Thursday, the incident remained under investigation, and the exact circumstances — including whether the primary suspect was ultimately taken into custody by LASD or CHP — had not yet been established, according to CBS Los Angeles.
