Wild Pursuit With Suspect In Stolen Car Ends In Violent Hawthorne Crash
HAWTHORNE (CBSLA) – There were no serious injuries after a police pursuit with a man in a stolen car resulted in two separate crashes in Hawthorne Thursday morning, prompting a brief standoff that forced officers to fire bean bags rounds.
Police told CBS2 the incident began before 7 a.m. when the suspect called 911 to report that he had been drinking, was carrying a knife and might hurt himself.
When officers responded to his home, the suspect sped away in a Honda Accord, prompting a chase. The pursuit wound its way onto the westbound 105 Freeway before the suspect exited the freeway and drove onto surface streets.
Officers were on the phone with the man during the 25-minute chase, attempting to deescalate the situation, police said.
The suspect crashed into a car at El Segundo and Crenshaw boulevards. He stopped momentarily, but then took off again.
The chase came to an end at 7:20 a.m. when the speeding suspect lost control, hit and curb and then slammed into the back of another car which was sitting at a red light at the intersection of El Segundo Boulevard and Prairie Avenue.
Following the collision, officers surrounded the vehicle and shot out the windows of the car with beanbags so they could ensure he wasn't going to hurt himself.
"The officers and supervisors felt that they needed to get a picture of what the suspect was armed with. He did say he was armed with a knife," LAPD Capt. Jon Pinto said. "So for the protection of himself and ourselves we elected to have a better view of inside the vehicle."
The suspect initially holed up inside the car and refused to come out. Just before 7:30 a.m. he finally surrendered and was loaded onto a gurney and transported to a hospital for observation.
The woman behind the wheel of the car which the suspect rear-ended suffered only minor injuries. She told CBS2 she was on her way to school when she was struck. After her car was hit, Aerial footage from Sky2 showed her immediately jump out of the car and run to police. The innocent driver involved in the first collision also only suffered minor injuries.
The suspect will likely face charges of felony evading and driving under the influence once released from the hospital.
