A routine stop on a stolen Nissan sedan in downtown Los Angeles turned into a multi-freeway pursuit early Friday morning that ended with four people in handcuffs and a handgun allegedly thrown from a moving car onto one of the busiest freeways in the country, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Officers tried to stop the sedan near Pico Boulevard and San Pedro Street around 1:42 a.m. after running its plates and finding it had been reported stolen. Instead of pulling over, the driver sped off, touching off a pursuit that wound through downtown surface streets before merging onto the northbound 405 Freeway, LAPD said.
A gun goes flying at freeway speed
Partway through the chase, officers following the car radioed that an object believed to be a handgun had been thrown from the vehicle while it was still moving on the 405, according to police. Two of the occupants then tried to run on foot along the shoulder near Washington Boulevard before officers caught up with them and took them into custody.
The remaining pursuit eventually left the freeway and wound back through city streets before the driver stopped on Redondo Boulevard between 21st and Bangor streets in the Mid-City neighborhood, roughly an hour after the chase began, around 2:45 a.m. Two more occupants were arrested there, bringing the total to four.
What happens next
LAPD has not said whether the thrown handgun was recovered along the freeway shoulder, and it remains unclear what charges, if any, will be filed over the weapon specifically. All four people taken into custody face charges tied to the stolen vehicle and the pursuit itself, with additional charges possible pending the investigation.
No injuries were reported among officers, bystanders or the occupants of the car despite the chase crossing one of the most heavily trafficked interchanges in Southern California during overnight hours.
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