A police pursuit through Los Angeles overnight ends with a violent crash in Atwater Village.
Home surveillance footage also showed the moment of impact. LAPD said they were chasing a suspected DUI driver in the pursuit that lasted about 50 minutes.
It started in South LA and ended in Atwater Village when the driver somehow lost control and crashed. The impact was so loud some neighbors say it woke them up.
Home surveillance footage captures a dramatic crash, showing the moment a black pickup truck slams into parked cars, rolls over and lands on top of them around 1:50 Sunday morning near Brunswick Avenue and Los Feliz Blvd in Atwater Village. The sound of the collision rattled the neighborhood.
“I thought someone had driven through the front of my house. I thought I was gonna come out of my bedroom and go into the kitchen and see a car in my living room,” said Lance Reyes, whose car was hit by the pursuit vehicle. “That’s what it sounded like. It sounded like a giant crash, like the biggest noise I think I’ve ever heard.”
The truck ended up crushing Reyes’ White Kia Soul and his neighbor’s Silver Toyota Corolla.
“You know, at least I wasn’t in the car, so I’m thankful,” Reyes said.
The LAPD says the pursuit began in South LA near Figueroa and 94th streets around 1 a.m.
The driver of the truck wanted for possible DUI, led police on a chase that stretched about 15 miles.
Police say the driver sustained significant injuries in the crash and was taken to the hospital.
Another black sedan was also hit by the truck. Police said that that driver had mild pain but did not need to be hospitalized.
“I was really stunned. I was really surprised that it happened, because the truck on top of this car, this is my neighbor’s car,” said Eva Lew, who lives in Atwater Village.
“Just flabbergasted. The neighbors were also outside the Kia. The Kia is our next door neighbor’s car, so we were talking about it,” said Victoria Cahill, who lives in Atwater Village.
Cahill’s Ring Camera captured the crash and she also recorded the aftermath with her phone, showing a crane lifting the truck off the mangled cars.
“It’s absolutely remarkable that no one was seriously injured,” Cahill said.
The LAPD says the driver of the truck is 18 years old and remains in serious condition at the hospital.