Wild high-speed chase results in numerous crashes [Updated]

 

The Los Angeles Police Department is involved in a high-speed pursuit through the streets of Southeast L.A. that has resulted in several accidents.

Police were chasing a stolen sport utility vehicle. Live TV footage from KTLA News showed the chase going  through South Gate, Lynwood, Compton and Long Beach (Watch video here). The driver of the SUV hit at least five cars during the chase on both major streets and side streets. At one point in Bixby Knolls, the driver's front bumper fell off.

No details were immediately available on the suspect.

The chase was now in the east Long Beach/Lakewood area. The car was apparently stolen in Long Beach.

[Updated at 10:51 a.m.: The SUV spun out in Long Beach and came to a stop. The driver, who appears to be a woman, was surrendering to police officers.]

-- Richard Winton

 

Comments

[James M]

Should have had OnStar, then the police would start a slowdown on the engine, Why dont other companies do this like OnStar?

[Chris]

Hey James. No offense but I don't anyone to have the ability to shut my car down. Sure in the real world it would be great for law enforcement, but do you really think that hackers and criminals wouldnt find a way to use it their advantage? I'd rather not have my car shutdown when driving through a dark street so that I can be car jacked and robbed.

[dev-null]

Good point there Chris

[Don]

The LA news channels always show the car chase but never followup with, who the driver was, why they didn't stop, and if they were sent to jail and later had a court date. They support bad behavior and consider it a way to increase rating rather than reporting the complete story and helping to improve safety for the public in general.

LA News, be a responsible agency! People will get killed as this behavior continues and is supported rather than considered a bad thing. People jumping onto sports fields are now, not shown. That is a good thing.

I also believe the FCC is not doing it's job to monitor the airwaves and restrict bad programming decisions by broadcasters.
The airwaves (broadcast frequencies) are still regulated by our government and need to be used to benefit the public (i.e. make decisions to support he "common good"). Otherwise they should loose their right to broadcast.

DWM 11-02-2010

[Eric]

agreed chris

[person]

http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/22/onstar-debuts-remote-ignition-block-to-shut-down-stolen-vehicles/

[American]

I think we need more White Republicans to break the law so we can have Diversity in our prisons.

[mewo nix]

Okay, so then what are our fleet of helicopters for? Chasing suspects like this is not only pointless and stupid, but it puts the rest of the public in harms way. Police shouldn't be permitted to engage in high-speed chases at all. Otherwise, why do we have so many helicopters? What about all those cameras all over the place? We can't track them like that? We can't head them off that way? Just a thought.

[kenmandu]

The LAPD will kill people just to retrieve a stolen vehicle... Don't they realize how dangerous a high-speed pursuit is and how meaningless it is compared to people's lives... Let the lawsuits begin.

[JC]

There are many problems with the cops chasing down the bad guys ie, crashes etc. The problem is that all we do once we catch the bad guys is send them to jail for a short time. (this does not seem to be a good deterrent) If these bad guys would have to do a few years in a hard labor work camp, they might think twice before running from the cops...

[Marc]

Don, I understand your position and agree that an important consideration for airing a chase, from the broadcaster's standpoint, is ratings. But it is news (cops chase bad guy)and broadcasters are obliged to cover it. Running on to a playing field is a stunt and a misdemeanor, running from the police is a felony.

[someguy]

just chill out and don't steal cars mama
vote yes on 19

[Mike G.]

I'm certain that the police have the vehicle owner's best interest at heart and they just want to see the stolen vehicle returned to its rightful owner as soon as possible; with the least amount of damage as possible. (This is our department of law enforcement raising hell on our streets; at our expense. )

[BIG DEAL]

Chris is SOOOO right. I travel up and down the state, sometimes in really remote areas. A couple of times I've had people scare me getting too close or trying to force me off the road. If they have a "kill" switch and my engine dies, I might too....

[BIG DEAL]

I'm sort of chuckling about the LAPD bashing. Cops killing people during the chase yadayadayada. But the score here is LAPD hits: 0; bad guy hits: at least five; Car returned to owner: 1. And there were at least 12 cop cars involved and they hit no one. Sorry. I don't believe in people getting away with stealing other people's stuff. Call me stupid if you wish, but I blame the car thief for the chase - not the cops.

[Andy]

Another thing about why they chase stolen cars... until they catch the perp they don't know what other crimes he (or in this case, she) may have committed that could be worse than auto-theft, which may explain why they're running. Even if the car is not stolen but just speeding, there could be a dead body in the trunk for example (its happened) or a cache of illegal weapons or drugs.

And Don, you expect the FCC to monitor every local channel in every city in the country 24/7 to see if they're following all the rules (and I think news is exempt anyway)? They usually act when they get a complaint. What about all that smaller govt everyone's screaming for?

[Alan Hart]

Why are the LAPD chasing cars on surface streets in Los Angeles? The best they can hope is to catch a stolen car (property) at the risk of killing humans (people). It seems that ther is no trade off worth risking lives for. Stop chasing cars. We spend millions of dollars on helicopters, use them to track the offender.

[Mind Body Spirit]

I do believe in cases like this that they should most definately use an engine kill switch to stop a potentially dangerous out of control vehicle.

[THE THRILL OF THE CHASE IS WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT TO COPS!]

These car chases had NOTHING to do with returning stolen vehicles to its rightful owners or catching suspects for other criminal activities, it has to do with the COPS EGO, and stopping the criminal by any means necessary even if it
harms the public.

The THRILL OF THE CHASE is what it has to do with car chases.

[tico]

I dont understand how people blame the police for chasing someone. If a police department didn't chase people, any serious criminal would run everytime because they would know the police can't chase them.
I agree with Bigdeal,,,,it is not the cops to blame for the outcome of any police pursuit, it is the bad guy who is putting everyone around them in harms way.The way to solve the problem is to make stricter penalties when people run from the police, not just give them a few months in jail.

[Jerry James]

What if they gave a car chase and no one was interested? Instead we were helping our children with their homework or watching a PG movie with them. Maybe the women in question should have put in some job applications, saved up and purchased a vehicle so their children could see what hard work gets one.

[Kelly Light]

LAME STORY...who was driving? WHY DID THEY RUN? This isn't journalism...LAME REPORTING.