In what turned out to be a wild ending to a police pursuit, a man was forced to bail from a vehicle when it appeared to overheat and then tossed a handgun to the side before surrendering to Los Angeles police officers.
The pursuit started Thursday morning after a red Ford Mustang was allegedly stolen out of Whittier, according to the LAPD. Officers eventually lost the car when it entered the southbound lanes of the 110 Freeway.
When Sky 5 was overhead of the pursuit at 10:06 a.m., the Mustang was in the area of Western Avenue and West 1st Street in San Pedro. According to the LAPD, officers were able to regain track of the car because of Sky 5’s coverage.
Officers briefly lost track of the vehicle, Leyvas said, due to the driver’s erratic movements.
At 10:07 a.m., the Mustang slowed dramatically and the driver turned onto a residential street, pulling over onto the curb on the left-hand side of the road. At that point, smoke or steam was billowing from underneath the car’s hood.
The suspect, who appeared to be the sole occupant of the car, then exited out of the driver’s side door while carrying a backpack. He appeared to grab a black object out of the vehicle, which he then put inside his front pocket.
He took a few steps toward a police squad car, where officers had guns drawn on him, and set down his backpack before laying on the ground flat on his stomach. A few seconds later, the man pulled the black object out of his pocket and tossed it to the side.
Images from Sky 5 showed that the black object appeared to be a handgun.
Officers then surrounded the man and took him into custody. The LAPD was unable to confirm whether the gun was real as of 11 a.m.
KTLA’s Gil Leyvas contributed to this report.
