There Was A Police Chase Straight Out Of GTA That Included Suspects Carjacking Four Vehicles, Including A Big Rig That Was Driving The Wrong Direction On The Freeway

For the police chase connoisseurs that love to watch the whole thing uncut:

ABC- Armed suspects accused of multiple carjackings led law enforcement on a dangerous pursuit that began in the San Fernando Valley, and stretched into Los Angeles on Sunday night. The chase began with law enforcement pursuing carjacking suspects in a stolen pickup truck. Early in the chase, at least one suspect reportedly fired shots at CHP officers after driving the wrong way on the freeway.

The driver then ran into the front of the tanker truck, and the truck's original driver ran out. California Highway Patrol confirmed that a firearm was recovered in the original pickup truck that was stolen. From there, most of the chase continued with the driver behind the wheel of the stolen tanker truck. Truck drivers watching the pursuit live said the tanker truck was not carrying hazardous material. It may have been a milk truck.

Things began to slow down when the suspect began circling high rises downtown, though the chase continued on. Shortly after 11:30 p.m., the driver got on the 10 Freeway going the wrong direction, driving into oncoming traffic. A few minutes later, the two suspects bailed from the stolen tanker truck and got into a third stolen vehicle -- this time, a white pickup truck.

At one point, they briefly stopped in Boyle Heights, where the driver and the passenger swapped places. After a few minutes, the suspects jumped out of the white pickup truck.

LAPD confirmed that the suspects carjacked a fourth vehicle and sped away. That's when police apparently lost sight of them. At last check, police had not taken anyone into custody.

Tell'em John!

There are so many things about California, or even just LA in general, that my Northeastern brain cannot comprehend. But at the top of the list is that police chases seemingly happen all the damn time. Usually they involve run of the mill maniacs looking to escape John Q. Law for some crime before getting snagged in their stolen sedan as soon as they make the wrong turn at the wrong time. 

However, occasionally you get a chase that feels like a real life game of GTA involving novelty vehicles where everyone shines. Not just the drivers in the stolen ambulance/U-Haul/tractor trailer but the drivers on the highway that are able to avoid a fucking big rig coming at them, the cameramen in the chopper keeping eyes on everything, and of course the broadcasters giving a play by play of everything as it unfolds live. I feel like if you want to get a job as a news anchor in LA, part of your tryout has to involve being able to call a police chase just so the TV station knows they have someone who can handle the heat in the kitchen as chaos happens in real time.

Advertisement

As for this chase, that was about as wild a video as you can have where nobody got hurt. I don't want to speak for them, but I can't imagine any of these alleged carjackers had their CDL to drive a big rig, yet they handled it about as well as you could, especially heading the WRONG MOTHERFUCKING DIRECTION ON THE FREEWAY. 

Even if they had crashed, there's a chance only milk would've spilled out, which is probably the best case scenario for a liquid that you could have loaded up in a big rig that got hijacked during a police chase. Not only that, but they appear to have gotten away. Which is why this police chase will be shown in all future carjacking classes in LA for the foreseeable future for how you handle everything once shit hits the fan. I don't know if it's the gold standard for police chases but it's definitely on the medal stand.