A possible burglary suspect was taken into custody Friday led police on a long chase through parts of the San Fernando Valley Friday, at one point stopping to refuel before taking off again, colliding with a pickup in a Northridge intersection and finally colliding head-on with a police cruiser while driving in the wrong direction.
The chase of the dark-colored sedan began shortly after 10 a.m. Friday in the area of Oxnard Street and Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
The man, who could be seen at times smoking a pipe while at the wheel, was followed on and off the Ventura (101) and San Diego (405) freeways, as well as along major streets and through residential neighborhoods, broadcast news video showed.
At one point, the suspect pulled off the freeway and stopped at a gas station on Nordhoff Street, then got back into the vehicle and took off again. Soon after, he was confronted by a motorcylist who tried to get him to pull over, to no avail. A conversation ensued before the man drove away again.
He also drove into and out of a Cal State Northridge parking structure and onto Zelzah Avenue, where he was broadsided in an intersection by a red pickup truck. Officers got out of their vehicle and approached on foot only for the driver to once again flee, prompting the continuation of the pursuit at a faster pace.
The driver avoided several spike strips during the course of the roughly 90-minute pursuit, but appeared to have a passenger’s side tire blown out, possibly after hitting one, or possibly from the collision with the pickup.
He was then chased onto the southbound 405, where he made a U-turn and started driving in the wrong direction, dodging patrol cars briefly before apparently losing control of the vehicle and ramming a police cruiser head-on, causing his airbag to deploy.
The man then bailed out of the vehicle and stumbled down an embankment onto a surface street, where he was captured moments later.