LAPD pursuit leaves two bystanders injured in South L.A.
A Los Angeles police pursuit left two bystanders injured Monday night after a fleeing vehicle slammed into two other cars in West Adams, police said.
Officers from the LAPD’s Southwest Division were responding to a report of shots fired in the area at approximately 11:30 p.m. when a 2015 Chevrolet Tahoe fled from the scene, said Officer Jack Richter, an LAPD spokesman.
The officers engaged in a “short pursuit,” which ended when the Tahoe crashed into two other vehicles at Adams Boulevard and La Brea Avenue, Richter said.
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Three men fled from the Tahoe on foot, but a K-9 unit managed to capture one of them a short time later. The captured man was described as a passenger in the fleeing vehicle and was booked on a charge of resisting arrest, according to Richter.
Richter identified the man as 18-year-old Irwin Lopez, of Los Angeles. The other two men who fled from the vehicle remain at large, he said.
Two bystanders suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the crash, according to Richter. He said it was unclear if the Tahoe vehicle was involved in the initial shooting incident.
Earlier this month, a Los Angeles Times analysis of police pursuit data showed that LAPD chases leave bystanders injured at more than twice the rate of police chases in the rest of the state. From 2006 to 2014, 334 bystanders were injured, one for every 10 LAPD pursuits, according to a Times review of pursuit data that is reported annually to the California Highway Patrol.
LAPD officials said the agency began reviewing its pursuit policy last year but wouldn’t comment on what specific policy changes might improve bystander safety.
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