Los Angeles police chase ends with burglary suspects taking selfies, chatting

Two burglarly suspects led authorities on a long, bizarre chase through the streets of Los Angeles in a convertible Thursday before surrendering to police, but only after stopping to exchange high-fives with onlookers and take selfies before being handcuffed.

The chase began at around 1:30 p.m. local time 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, which lasted approximately 90 minutes, two blue-clad men sped along freeways in a blue Ford Mustang and wove through jammed streets — sometimes dangerously.

The vehicle, its top down despite persistent rain showers, drove north on the Hollywood Freeway north of downtown Los Angeles before exiting at Hollywood Boulevard.

The Mustang slowed to avoid people in crosswalks, while the driver did "donuts" on the rain-slicked avenue best-known for the Hollywood Walk of Fame. On one occasion, the Mustang appeared to clip another car, but kept on going. 

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.

After leaving Hollywood, the Mustang made its way up Laurel Canyon Boulevard and eastbound on Mulholland Drive, Fox 11 reported.

Pursing patrol cars backed off several times for safety reasons, authorities said.
Coming down from the Hollywood Hills, the men took the Hollywood and Harbor freeways in the opposite direction from which they had come.

Finally, 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.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said the men were to be booked for burglary, "among many other charges."