Authorities Friday chased a stolen car from the downtown Los Angeles area into and all over Orange County and then to Lakewood, where the motorist stopped their vehicle and engaged in a standoff with police.
The chase began about 12:45 p.m., when Los Angeles Police Department officers tried to stop the car, which had been reported stolen in Downey, near Hill and 25th streets, according to the LAPD. Broadcast reports indicated it was an armed carjacking.
The man refused to yield, heading onto the southbound Santa Ana (5) Freeway and leading officers on an erratic chase that at times went onto the wrong side of the roadway both on the freeway and surface streets.
After about a half-hour, the suspect was in the Buena Park area and driving the wrong way on the shoulder of the freeway and then coming to a stop at Artesia Boulevard, where a brief standoff with officers ensued.
The four-door sedan began moving again and went onto surface streets, where an officer used a patrol car to spin out the suspect vehicle temporarily, but it began moving again, heading onto Beach Boulevard with officers following it.
The driver made his way back onto the Santa Ana Freeway toward Los Angeles County, where he exited in Cerritos and stopped his vehicle in the area of Del Amo Boulevard and Winkler Avenue when a pickup blocked the two-lane roadway beside a parked car. The pickup driver got out and ran into a grassy area, leaving his vehicle as an obstacle.
The driver again engaged in a brief standoff with police but managed to steer around the pickup and led police once again on a chase into Lakewood. The stolen vehicle’s driver’s side tires were flat, however — possibly from a spike strip that had been hastily deployed earlier in the pursuit — and the car eventually stopped near Bloomfield Avenue and Del Amo Boulevard.
The man rolled down his windows and exchanged words with officers, but refused to exit the car. Authorities fired non-lethal rounds into the car, shattering a rear window.
The barricade situation continued as of about 3:10 p.m.
During the standoff, a second carjacking pursuit in Orange County was initiated. That suspect stole a utility truck, which he abandoned. He then fled through a neighborhood before being taken into custody by authorities minutes later.