(May 23, 2003) - What started as a simple "suspicious person" call turned into a wild midmorning police chase that led LBPD from the southern Drake Park area into San Pedro.
In a written release, LBPD says officers arrived in the 800 block of Loma Vista Drive in response to a male subject involved in suspicious activity involving a vehicle. They observed the subject...who immediately got into a parked vehicle and drove off.
Officers got the license plate number, ran it and determined it had been reported stolen to LAPD...and an LBPD patrol supervisor authorized pursuit.
During the chase, LBPD says the suspect traveled on the Terminal Island Freeway, through Wilmington and onto the Harbor 110 freeway...where he got into a hit and run accident with two vehicles (no injuries), ran numerous red lights and stop sights, travelled on the sidewalk, drove on the wrong side the street and reached speeds of 70 mph.
The chase ended near 2d St. and Centre Ave. in San Pedro when the suspect jumped from the car and ran into an apartment building in the 200 block of Armona Court, then refused to surrender.
After about thirty minutes of work by LBPD Hostage Negotiators and SWAT officers, the suspect was taken into custody after he was found hiding in a closet in an adjacent apartment.
The suspect, not yet positively identified as we post, was booked for felony evading, grand theft auto, auto burglary, residential burglary and hit and run.