The wild two-county pursuit began around 5 pm Wednesday with reports of a speeding sedan in Anaheim, Orange County. After a while, the driver left that car and carjacked a parked van, which was captured on video repeatedly crashing into a blocked Fullerton police cruiser until it was able to speed away. The chase continued with the van swerving sideswiping and rear-ending several cars as it sped past and slid into road traffic before heading onto a motorway. The driver later abandoned the truck and ran into a home in Whittier in Los Angeles County, stole the keys to a truck parked in the driveway and took off as people in the home who had confronted him were nearly hit, KNBC-TV reported. Andres Benitez told the station he had just returned from work. “I was just talking to my mum and we were having a normal conversation when I saw the back door open and it wasn’t supposed to be open,” she said. The suspect entered the kitchen. Benitez said he grabbed a kitchen knife to defend his mother. “I started to redirect him to the front door,” but the man grabbed the car keys from the kitchen table. Benitez said he pinned down the suspect, who had a pair of scissors, and threatened to stab him as his mother tried to restrain him. The family and the man went outside, where he stole the truck and sped away. The pickup eventually lost a front tire, but the driver continued to weave erratically through traffic in the Hacienda Heights area at high speed, hitting several cars, crossing center dividers and running red lights. The truck ended up at a gas station after a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s patrol car rear-ended the truck. At this point, more than a dozen patrol cars hit the gas station, but the truck was still backed up and crashed into a patrol car, prompting authorities to fire several shots through the driver’s side window. Deputies with guns drawn surrounded the stopped truck as smoke billowed from it and then flames that were quickly extinguished with a fire extinguisher. Finally, deputies with a special shield approached the car, broke the driver’s window, opened the door and pulled the driver out, who was taken to a patrol car. It was unclear if he was injured.
