2 Stolen Car, Reckless Driving Suspects Try To Flee On Foot Following Dangerous Chase
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) -- Two suspects -- a man and a woman -- tried to flee on foot at the culmination of a chase Saturday evening.
The pursuit began in Venice just after 4:30 p.m., authorities said.
During the chase the driver - it was unclear which suspect was at the wheel - drove recklessly at excessive speeds and had several near-misses with pedestrians and other vehicles.
At several points in the chase, the suspect also drove the Dodge minivan on the wrong side of the road.
Because the suspect was driving recklessly and putting innocent lives at risk, the LAPD went from chasing the vehicle in to what is known as "tracking mode." That is when officers back off and mostly monitor the suspects from the air.
The suspect wove in-and-out of traffic in Downtown LA and the Mid City area.
In Commerce, the two suspects pulled over and fled. They ran through an industrial area, looked inside a pickup truck for keys and ran in and out and back in a warehouse.
The female suspect appeared to be holding a bag when she started running. She ditched the bag at one point but it was unclear if it was left inside the warehouse.
Speaking of the warehouse, Nguyen reports the duo didn't have the best luck when they ran into Freedom Forever Warehouse -- more specifically they weren't fortunate to run into Daniel Escovedo, a manager there.
"So they just come in -- these strangers I didn't know and they were asking for key. And luckily right behind this food, there's all our keys. Luckily, they didn't see any of that stuff so they bombarded me with keys. I just picked up a hammer and told them to get the f--k out," Escovedo says.
Under a minute, they hoofed it out of there -- a solar panel installation business for the record. By then the suspects made it out of the warehouse before they walked along a nearby set of train tracks.
The man dropped something else but retrieved it. It was unclear if either of the suspects were armed at this juncture.
Nguyen says the couple tried to give the cops the slip but they were met by a series of locked doors.
Police were hot on their trail and after running a few more blocks and going into another warehouse the suspects came out with their hands up.
The suspects were taken into custody -- about an hour after the pursuit began -- without further incident, officials said.
Later, Escovedo said he was glad to hear the news the suspects were in custody.
"I found out -- through one of the police officers -- they did have a gun," he says. "They got rid of the gun before they got in here which was just great for me," Escovedo says.