Pursuit suspect initially refuses to surrender to officers while he talks on the phone

By Matthew Rodriguez

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    LOS ANGELES (KCAL, KCBS) — A pursuit suspect decided to make a phone call instead of surrendering to officers during a standoff on the 118 Freeway Thursday night.

The strange interaction happened at about 6:45 p.m. after the suspect drove away from a burglary in the Porter Ranch area of the San Fernando Valley. Officers from the Los Angeles Police Department chased the suspect until he got onto the CA-118 Freeway. At that point, the California Highway Patrol assumed control of the pursuit.

He continued to drive away officers until pulling into the shoulder. Officers exited their cars with their weapons drawn as they waited for the suspect to surrender. He eventually exited the silver Hyundai Sonata but seemed to disregard officer orders as he pulled out his phone.

After a moment, he raised his hand at officers, appearing to tell them to wait while he seemed to talk on the phone. The suspect then walked away from officers while still holding the phone to his head.

Officers left their cars and walked over to the suspect before arresting him without any further incident.

Investigators said officers arrested the suspect’s accomplices after a burglary in the 18900 block of Granada Circle. When officers arrived, they tried to pull over a car that matched the suspects’ getaway car descriptions. The driver refused to pull over, prompting a brief pursuit. The Mercedes-Benz crashed before five suspects jumped out of the car. Officers immediately arrested two people immediately after the collision.

After searching through the neighborhood, police arrested two more suspects.

During the manhunt, the final suspect blew through the perimeter officers established, prompting the pursuit to Simi Valley.

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