WATCH: Stolen Car Suspects Arrested After Wild Chase
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) - A pair of suspected car thieves tried to steal at least two additional vehicles during a bizarre police pursuit through Southern California Friday afternoon.
It reportedly began when the driver of a dark-colored Nissan Altima sedan failed to yield for an equipment violation about 12:15 p.m. in the 100 block of East Foothill Boulevard in Upland.
The driver took off and fled on several freeways in the Los Angeles area, including the 105, 605, 10 and 710 freeways, hitting speeds of up to 100 mph and circling neighborhoods in Norwalk, East L.A., and other areas.
An unidentified man in the South Gate area handed the pair a bag and bottle.
At one point, the driver ripped the front bumper off of another car as he tried push through street traffic.
When authorities backed off due to the suspects' erratic driving, the pair continued driving before they came to a stop in the South Gate area.
For a second time, the driver tried to steal another vehicle -- a white SUV -- but found the doors were also locked.
They eventually drove back onto the 710 freeway into Commerce and then the Bell area.
After pulling over, the two men ran up an embankment and began walking in traffic on East Florence Avenue, where they attempted to open the passenger door of a stopped big rig.
The pair then climbed into the backseat of another car with a female motorist behind the wheel, and after traveling a short distance, they again fled near Florence and Wilcox Avenue, where police and sheriff's deputies took them into custody.
"During the car ride, one of the guys he kept thanking my mom for the ride," Rudy Lopez, a passenger in that car, said. "We didn't think nothing of it until we heard the three helicopters and the cop cars behind us, and then I'm like, "Something's wrong here."
Lopez said that, while he was shaken up, he and his mother were fine and they were thankful that nobody was hurt in the ordeal.
