A woman who led officers on a pursuit through Santa Monica and into Brentwood Friday morning was taken into custody after crashing head-on into multiple vehicles on the 405 Freeway.
The events began around 4:30 a.m. when a patrol vehicle responding to a disturbance call was rammed by a woman driving a van, the Los Angeles Police Department posted on X, formerly Twitter.
The driver fled the scene, prompting police to initiate an assault with a deadly weapon suspect pursuit at 4:49 a.m.
Sky5 was over the pursuit on Santa Monica Boulevard shortly after 5 a.m. where the driver was being followed by several patrol units.
Video showed the driver attempting to ram the patrol vehicles and then leaning out the window of the van and shouting at officers.
At one point, the fleeing driver turned around and chased one of the patrol vehicles down a street in an attempt to crash into it.
“This is nuts. She’s chasing a black and white. She’s got a couple of other cars behind her … Look at this. This is just craziness,” Sky5 reporter Mike Case said.
Police attempted several pit maneuvers on the northbound 405 Freeway but were unsuccessful.
“They showed incredible restraint. By law, they probably could have used lethal force,” Chris Schauble said.
The driver then began driving in the wrong direction on the freeway and crashed head-on into another vehicle, but that still did not stop the van. She continued on and drove at full speed, and again slammed head-on into multiple vehicles that were stopped on the freeway.
The collision, which occurred near Sunset Boulevard in the Brentwood area, left at least one vehicle badly damaged and caused the van to finally become disabled.
The woman exited the van, climbed on top of a big rig and sat on the hood until being taken into custody by officers. Law enforcement experts told KNX News Radio that she appeared to be under the influence of drugs.
The bloodied woman was eventually loaded in an ambulance and taken to a nearby hospital to be evaluated.
At least two officers were injured and hospitalized in unknown condition during the incident. None of the innocent drivers involved in the collision appeared to be seriously hurt.
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