2 Officers Hurt Following Robbery Investigation At Marijuana Dispensary In South LA
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – Two Los Angeles police officers were hurt early Thursday morning when their patrol vehicle crashed following a robbery involving several suspects who partook in a marijuana dispensary burglary in South L.A.
The incident began a little after 5:07 a.m. when the LAPD officers responded to a burglary call at the Flower and Leaf Dispensary located in the 1500 block of Florence Avenue.
Security footage obtained by CBSLA from the owner of the dispensary shows at least three suspects breaking in and ransacking the business.
The video shows the LAPD officers arriving at the dispensary in their squad SUV, which prompted the suspects to scatter. A couple appeared to run away on foot, while at least one entered a car. The officers drew their guns on the car as the suspect sped away, almost running them down in the process. It appears no shots were fired, however.
The officers then jumped into their squad SUV, where a collision involving their squad SUV occurred a short time later at the intersection of Florence and Vermont Avenues, about a half-mile from the dispensary.
Footage from the crash scene showed one civilian car which had slammed into a fence, while the LAPD squad SUV had significant front-end damage.
The two officers in the squad vehicle were taken to a hospital with minor injuries. A civilian occupant of the other vehicle was also hospitalized in unknown condition.
The suspects appear to have escaped. No arrests have been made, police said.
Owners are left with just a few simple questions following the string of targeted robberies on their location, after detailing to CBS reporters that their shop was also hit about a month ago.
"All I want to know is why?" Leslie Brannon, the owner of Flower and Leaf asked, "What did I do to you?"
She told CBS reporters that they had just restocked shelves on Wednesday evening, and that this second robbery in the same amount of months, "is not a hit we can take right now."
"It's really hard because as a social equity program we're trying to give back to the neighborhood," Brannon continued, "So for them to come in here, it's not only hurting us, it hurts the community as well."
Despite it all, Brannon is thankful that the officers who responded to the scene were there to help. "I do appreciate them doing their job and doing the best they can to catch them," she said, "I do hope the officers that were injured are okay."
Employees worked throughout the day to repair damage sustained in the break-in and replace what inventory they could following the robbery. Thanks to security camera footage, they were at least able to quickly address the area of concern.
The footage showed the suspects breaking a window to enter the business, before heading towards the reception area - which is surrounded by drywall and glass - where they cut out a large portion of the drywall to gain access to where all of Flower and Leaf's supply was stocked on the shelves.
Brannon hopes that things will change following this second break-in. "I can only hope that the cops are able to at least find them," she said. "At this point, I don't even want the merchandise back, I just want some type of justice."
