Dangerous Chase With Stolen Car Ends In Sherman Oaks Galleria; 3 Captured
SHERMAN OAKS (CBSLA) – A high-speed pursuit with a stolen car out of Mid-City came to an end when the car drove into the parking garage of the very busy Sherman Oaks Galleria mall Friday morning, where three suspects were detained and a fourth remains at large.
Los Angeles police said the suspects were part of a burglary crew out of Oakland who would come down to the L.A. area to break into cars.
The incident began at around 10 a.m. when officers began to pursue a black sports car which had been reported stolen from the 1300 block of Redondo Boulevard in the Mid-City area.
The pursuit, which reached speeds well over 100 miles per hour, wound its way onto the westbound 10 Freeway, before going onto the northbound 405 Freeway through Bel-Air and then into Sherman Oaks. The car weaved dangerously in and out of traffic as it blew out a tire, sending up smoke.
The suspects then jumped onto the northbound 101 Freeway, before exiting in the Encino area.
A little before 10:45 a.m., the car drove into the Sherman Oaks Galleria.
Aerial footage showed one suspect being taken into custody. Police confirmed that two others were also detained as of 11:45 a.m. A fourth remained at large.
"They're trying to evade us and elude us by going in the mall, it was a good idea, but it doesn't work," an LAPD spokesman told reporters. "It works in the movies, but we caught them."
The mall was not on lockdown during the incident.
The names of the suspects were not immediately released.
Cellphone video captured images of one of the suspect's limping as he was led out of the Galleria in handcuffs.
CBS2/KCAL9's Jeff Nguyen spoke to witnesses -- including some drivers who had close calls with the speeding suspects.
"I was heading to Ventura when some crazy person went flying by me," said Karris Kutivan, "they were going 100 miles per hour on the shoulder. I saw the helicopters and I realized it was some kind of high-speed chase"
