A possibly stolen SUV led Los Angeles police on a chaotic, wrong-way pursuit through downtown Los Angeles, with the suspect colliding with a patrol vehicle, a passenger leaping out mid-chase, two LAPD cruisers crashing into one another, and officers losing track of the driver entirely.
Chase Stretched From the Freeway to City Streets
The Los Angeles Police Department pursued the SUV near downtown Los Angeles, according to CBS News. Officers said the driver went the wrong way on the 10 Freeway during the chase before exiting onto surface streets, where the pursuit continued in defiance of traffic in the opposite direction on several downtown roads, per the outlet's reporting.
At some point during the chase, a passenger jumped out of the SUV, according to the LAPD account relayed by the outlet. The driver kept going, eventually colliding with an officer's patrol SUV, then reversing away from the crash site and continuing to drive, LAPD officers said.
Officers Collide, Suspect Slips Away
As the chase wound through downtown streets, two LAPD officers crashed into each other, according to the LAPD. Officers also lost sight of the suspect as the vehicle moved through several more downtown blocks, bringing the pursuit to an unresolved end for the time being.
A Pattern of Risk in LAPD Pursuits
Downtown chases that end in chaos are not unique to this incident. In a separate pursuit, LAPD officers responded just after 1:30 a.m. on a Wednesday to reports of a shooting near 7th Street and Alameda Street, according to FOX 11 Los Angeles. Investigators said that incident began when a man fired multiple rounds toward people in the area, and the resulting chase lasted only a few blocks before ending in a crash near South Alameda and Bay streets, leaving two officers and the suspect with non-life-threatening injuries.
Other recent downtown-area pursuits have followed similarly volatile paths. The Eastsider reported that one chase began at 12:10 a.m. after Rampart Division officers followed a vehicle traveling southbound on the Harbor (110) Freeway when it failed to yield for a traffic stop. The suspects, driving a silver Infiniti sedan, headed northbound on Flower Street before colliding with an LAPD vehicle at 8th Place and Figueroa Street; the driver and a female passenger fled on foot but were arrested minutes later, with no injuries reported.
A different pursuit involving a reportedly stolen Mercedes-Benz SUV saw speeds exceed 100 mph as the chase moved across the 10, 110 and 5 freeways before continuing onto surface streets in Burbank, according to ABC7. That driver went the wrong way along Glenoaks Boulevard in the Sylmar area before he and a front-seat passenger got out on foot near Truman Street and San Fernando Road; the report said it did not appear that the passenger was taken into custody.
Pursuit Crashes Carry Steep Costs Citywide
The risks on display in these chases mirror a broader pattern documented across the department. The Los Angeles Times found that LAPD officers were involved in at least 4,203 pursuits since 2018, and that roughly a quarter of them — 1,032 — resulted in a collision that caused injuries or death. Among those hurt or killed in pursuit-related crashes since 2018, 496 were bystanders injured and nine were killed, the newspaper reported.
Much of the danger comes early. More than three-fourths of LAPD pursuit collisions occurred within five minutes of a chase starting, the Times reported, with an average pursuit speed of 46 mph and 64% of collisions happening when chases reached speeds of 41 to 80 mph.
