Video shows car crashing into apartment building during South LA police chase before sparking fire

SOUTH LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A portion of an apartment building in South Los Angeles went up in flames Saturday when a driver crashed into the building during an early morning police chase.

The crash and fire were reported around 1:50 a.m. in the 200 block of East 23rd Street, just east of Main Street, and it was all caught on surveillance video.

The driver was reportedly going so fast, the 4-door sedan with four people inside jumped the curb and briefly went airborne before crashing into the living room of an apartment on the first floor. The vehicle then caught fire, causing flames to spread to the rest of the apartment.

Investigators said there were people inside the apartment when the incident occurred, but they were all upstairs.

No one was injured, but they were forced to rush outside due to the fire.

"We thought it was another car crash because there's a bunch of car crashes often," said Kevin Tinoco. "We just had one the night before this one ... so we ran downstairs to see where it hit, what car it hit. It was our living room and it was all the way inside."

"We're just like, 'What is going on?'" said Rose Tinoco. "We see like smoke all over. We see guys trying to, like, rush out the car, and then we hear the cops say, 'Stop! Put your hands up!' We were like, 'What's going on?'"

All four people in the car were detained by police and the driver was booked for felony evading. By the time the fire department arrived, the flames had spread to the second floor of the apartment.

The car was eventually removed but the apartment has too much damage for the Tinocos to return home.

A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the family.

The incident remains under investigation.