LOS ANGELES – Authorities arrested two burglary suspects who led them on a long, bizarre chase Thursday in a top-down convertible through rainy Southern California that ended with the men stopping to exchange high-fives with onlookers and take selfies before being handcuffed.
The afternoon escapade stretched from Cerritos onto freeways and through Hollywood and other parts of Los Angeles for more than an hour before winding up in a South LA neighbourhood.
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The chase began around 2 p.m. with a report of a home burglary in Cerritos, about 25 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles, Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials said.
During the ensuing chase, two men, both clad in blue, sped along freeways and wove through jammed streets – sometimes dangerously.
At one point, the Mustang clipped another car. In the heart of Hollywood, the Mustang slowed to avoid people in crosswalks.
At one point, a TMZ tour bus boxed in the Mustang before another car moved off and the vehicle was able to get around it.
During the chase, the passenger waved to other motorists, stood up, danced and made hand gestures. The driver also stopped on slick streets to skid the car in circular “donuts” before taking off again.
Pursing patrol cars backed off several times for safety reasons, authorities said.
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Shortly after 3 p.m., the car – riding on three tires by this time – pulled up on a South Los Angeles street where a group of mainly young men were standing near a driveway. The driver got out and sat on the hood. Both men took selfies and exchanged hugs, high-fives and conversation with the group of apparent friends or well-wishers.
When sheriff’s deputies arrived a few minutes later, the two men calmly surrendered and were handcuffed as onlookers took videos of the scene with cellphones.