A robbery suspect crashed a silver Mercedes convertible into at least six parked cars on West 30th Street near USC early Wednesday morning, then ditched the vehicle and ran off before officers could catch up. The driver remains on the run, and no injuries have been reported from the crash.
According to the ABC7 Los Angeles report, officers began pursuing the robbery suspect near Olive Street and Washington Boulevard early Wednesday. The Los Angeles Police Department told the outlet that officers lost sight of the Mercedes as it sped away, only to find the car crashed roughly five minutes later on West 30th Street, several miles southwest in University Park.
The crash area on West 30th Street is residential and has many students. The pursuit began near Olive Street and Washington Boulevard and ended on West 30th Street in University Park.
Suspect Fled Before Officers Could Reach the Wreck
By the time patrol units reached the crash site, the driver was already gone, having run from the scene before officers arrived, the ABC7 report states.
LAPD policy authorizes officers to initiate vehicle pursuits when reasonable suspicion or probable cause exists that a felony — including robbery — has occurred, per Volume I, Section 555.10 of the LAPD Manual. The policy also restricts pursuits tied to minor traffic infractions.
A Pattern of Crashes Tied to L.A. Pursuits
Should the driver be caught, Vehicle Code Section 2800.2 makes fleeing a pursuing patrol vehicle with willful or wanton disregard for safety a wobbler that prosecutors may charge as either a misdemeanor or a felony — when charged as a felony, reckless evading is punishable by 16 months to three years in state prison and fines up to $10,000, according to legal analysis from Cron, Israels & Stark. Leaving the scene after damaging six unattended parked cars without notifying owners or leaving contact information also constitutes misdemeanor hit-and-run under Vehicle Code 20002, carrying up to six months in county jail and a $1,000 fine, per the Eisner Gorin breakdown of the statute.
Separate LAPD data presented to the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners showed that of 4,203 pursuits between 2018 and early 2023, roughly a quarter resulted in injuries or fatalities, with uninvolved bystanders accounting for nearly half of those hurt, according to the Los Angeles Times.
University Park has seen more than its share of these chases end on its streets in recent months. Hoodline previously reported on a stolen Mercedes chase that ended in the same neighborhood after a September pursuit spanning surface streets and Interstate 10, with officers deploying spike strips and a PIT maneuver to stop the vehicle. That same month, a separate LAPD pursuit near USC Village ended with a suspect detained after a pepper-spray confrontation.
For now, the suspect behind Wednesday's crash remains at large. The specifics of the robbery that triggered the initial pursuit near Olive Street and Washington Boulevard have not been detailed, and it remains to be seen whether surveillance or doorbell footage from West 30th Street residents will help investigators track him down.
