2-hour police chase ends as car loses wheel, CA police performs PIT maneuver on 105 Freeway
LOS ANGELES -- A chase that lasted more than two hours and involved two different vehicles ended in a fiery PIT maneuver on California's 105 Freeway Sunday night.
At the end of the long chase, the car lost a wheel and started sending up a burst of sparks as the rims scraped the roadway.
A California Highway Patrol cruiser moved in and slammed the back bumper, sending the car spinning out on the freeway. Eventually, two men and a woman emerged from the disabled vehicle and surrendered.
The chase started just after 8 p.m. as Los Angeles police began chasing a possibly stolen black sedan that circled around neighborhoods of southern Los Angeles County for more than an hour.
The suspect in a vehicle, with plates that indicated it was likely stolen, drove mostly within the speed limit on surface streets. The driver drove through red lights several times but otherwise did not operate recklessly.
At least five police SUVs followed the unit close behind but apparently did not attempt to make a PIT maneuver or otherwise force the chase to come to a conclusion.
Officers were concerned the suspect or suspects may have been armed.
After at least 75 minutes, the black car pulled into a commercial parking lot and the driver hopped out, letting the car roll while he ran to another vehicle that was waiting nearby. He hopped into the back of the white sedan - which took off at much faster speeds, exceeding 75 mph on surface streets and eventually getting onto the 101 Freeway near downtown Los Angeles.
The car was driving on the 101 and 710 freeways without headlights on at speeds that at times exceeded 100 mph.
It eventually headed south on the 710 down to the Long Beach area, more than 90 minutes after the chase began.
CHP units took over the chase from the LAPD as it continued onto the 110 north.
The vehicle then returned to surface streets in the same general area of southeast Los Angeles as earlier in the chase. At one point it appeared to crash and one person was seen running on foot from the scene.
But the car continued fleeing and got onto the 105 freeway.
Eventually it lost a wheel, sparks shot up from the rims and the CHP PIT maneuver ended the chase on the 105 more than two hours after it started.
Two men and a woman emerged from the vehicle and were taken into custody but the 105 remained blocked for some time. LAPD said the original driver of the black Lexus was not in the white vehicle when it ended but was taken into custody separately.
