Man nabs car and leads police on chase in two CA counties — all on live TV, cops say
A man is accused of nabbing multiple cars and leading police on a high-speed, hour-long chase through two California counties.
During the crime spree, he was also seen hitting multiple cars, driving the wrong way through traffic, and ramming into two police cruisers. And it was all caught on live TV, multiple outlets reported.
It started around 5 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 9, KTLA reported. Police officers tried to stop a black Honda Civic for traffic violations, but the driver refused to pull over.
Fullerton Police caught up to the driver at an Anaheim apartment complex, where he parked the Civic and swapped it for a white Chevrolet van, ABC 7 video shows.
Police tried to block the van, and the driver rammed into the police cruiser until he could make it out of the apartment complex, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The van belongs to an Anaheim resident named John Reynolds, who told KTLA that he was at Knott’s Berry Farm with his family when his van was stolen.
He watched the police chase on TV, and thought “What am I going to do about work tomorrow?” he told the outlet. “I need that for work. I’m hoping it’s still usable.”
The driver sideswiped and rear-ended several cars, got on the freeway, and eventually abandoned the van, ABC News reported.
He then ran inside a home in Whittier, had a confrontation with the homeowner there, stole the keys to a work truck and drove off in it, backing into police cruisers in the process, LA Times reported.
That victim, Andres Benitez, told NBC Los Angeles he spent two years saving for the truck he uses in his landscaping business.
The front driver’s side tire shredded, and the driver eventually stopped at a Hacienda Heights gas station, the outlet reported.
The chase ended in “smoke, flame and gunshots,” ABC News reported. A Los Angeles County sheriff’s patrol car rammed the stolen truck from behind, but the driver “still backed up and smashed into a patrol car,” and authorities fired through the driver’s window, the outlet reported.
Deputies smashed the driver’s window, pulled out the driver and walked him to a patrol car. It’s unclear wherther he was injured, the outlet reported.
“This was obviously an incredibly dangerous pursuit involving a suspect who had zero regard for public safety, for the motorists on the street and the police officers involved,” Capt. Jon Radus, a spokesperson with the Fullerton Police Departent, told the outlet.
This story was originally published November 11, 2022 at 3:59 PM with the headline "Man nabs car and leads police on chase in two CA counties — all on live TV, cops say."
