Suspect in stolen Kia flees through Los Angeles before surrendering
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A suspect in a stolen Kia led authorities on a lengthy chase from Hawthorne to South Los Angeles Friday afternoon, briefly reversing into an LAPD cruiser before surrendering.
Hawthorne police initiated the pursuit just after 5 p.m. then handed it off to CHP as the suspects got onto the freeway. At one point there were reports of four suspects in the car but by the time it got to Los Angeles there was only the driver. The Kia had damage to its front end.
At one point, police pulled back and monitored the vehicle from the air in tracking mode with no cruisers on the ground in the immediate area. The driver continued to drive dangerously at times over surface streets in the South Los Angeles area, weaving through lanes and heading into oncoming traffic even with no officers immediately behind him.
Eventually he got back onto the southbound 110 Freeway but soon pulled over as an LAPD cruiser approached and heavy traffic on the freeway made further escape impossible.
As the LAPD cruiser approached from the rear and officers were getting out, the driver briefly put the Kia into reverse and it backed into the cruiser at low speed. The car briefly moved forward again but then the suspect stopped and surrendered to officers, roughly an hour after the chase began.
