The suspect was taken into custody after leading Los Angeles police on a car chase Saturday afternoon that resulted in the death of the driver and injuries to two other people in the San Fernando Valley.
Around 1:45 p.m., officers spotted a stolen white Mercedes near the intersection of Vanowen Street and Corbin Avenue in Winnetka, according to LAPD Officer Mike Lopez. While the police were following the car, Lopez said, the driver of the Mercedes sped off, leading to a chase.
As the driver fled, he crashed into a white Tesla westbound on Saticoy Street, police said. The Tesla then hit two other cars.
The suspect, 42 years old, was taken into custody and taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries, said the police. The driver of the Tesla, a 40-year-old woman, was pronounced dead at the scene. Another woman who was in the car that was hit by the Tesla was treated at the scene, while a man who was traveling in a different car was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
The police have not released the suspect's name but said they will do so once he is booked.
Nearly half of the people injured or killed in police chases in Los Angeles since 2018 were bystanders, according to LAPD data released last year. According to results presented to the Board of Police Commissioners, LAPD officers have been involved in at least 4,203 operations since 2018; nearly a quarter (1,032) resulted in collisions that resulted in injury or death.
Almost half of these injury accidents involved people who were not involved in the chase – 496 were injured and nine died. In comparison, 462 fleeing suspects were injured at the time, and five died, according to the report.
Under LAPD policy, officers are allowed to initiate pursuit of a suspected crime or certain offenses such as reckless or drunk driving.
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