Los Angeles Police Department officers pursued a tow truck for over two hours through Sherman Oaks, Studio City, North Hollywood, Hollywood, Los Feliz and other neighborhoods before the chase ended in Glendale around 6:42 p.m when the driver pulled over and surrendered peacefully to Glendale officers.
The driver apparently had borrowed the truck from a friend and then got into a dispute with an LAPD officer at the scene of a crash at Magnolia Boulevard and Woodman Avenue in Sherman Oaks when responding to a two-car accident. According to ABC7, the LAPD said the driver was wanted for assault on a peace officer after trying to run an officer over with the tow truck.
The driver of the tow truck for the most part drove slow during the chase, stopped at stop lights and used turn signals while taking many live TV viewers on a tour of the greater Los Angeles area. At different points the truck drove down Ventura Boulevard in Studio City, Cahuenga Boulevard in the Cahuenga Pass, Hollywood and Sunset boulevards in Hollywood and Los Feliz Boulevard in Los Feliz. LAPD officers remained behind the tow truck and never approached it aggressively, but several officers attempted unsuccessfully to throw spike strips under the truck's tires in Hollywood.
At 6 p.m., the truck was heading back up the Cahuenga Pass into the Valley after winding through Hollywood, but turned around and drove back into Hollywood before veering into Los Feliz and Glendale.
A 14-year girl was interviewed live on ABC7 at 6:19 p.m. and said she witnessed a two-car crash at Magnolia and Woodman, then saw the tow truck driver pull up and put up orange cones around the crash. At that point, a police car arrived and an officer started questioning him about either his tow truck license or his driver's license, the girl said.
"(The driver) started yelling at the cop, and the cop was just calmly saying, 'I need to see some form of license,'" the girl told ABC7. "And he started getting mad and louder. He didn't say anything threatening or anything or do anything physical, it was all verbal. And the police I guess turned around to see what I had to say about it and I guess when they turned around the guy got in his car and left, so they got in theirs and followed him."
Richard Adams, who lives off Ventura Boulevard, said, "I saw eight to 10 black-and-whites and police helicopters chasing this guy and they headed toward Whitsett."
Adams is the chairperson of the Safety Committee of the Studio City Neighborhood Council and said some of the police officers were from the Van Nuys Division of the LAPD.
"It sounded at first like all hell is breaking loose," he said.
The tow truck, affiliated with AAA, belongs to Portola Towing in Lake Forest, but the man driving is apparently a friend of the regular driver, according to a person who answered the phone at the business.
Rachel Core, 16, of Hollywood, said she was driving on Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks when she came upon the tow truck and police officers at Hazeltine Avenue. She said the officers were out of their patrol cars with guns pointed at the tow truck, with the driver inside. The tow truck then drove off, eastbound on Ventura Boulevard, and the officers got into their cars and followed.
City News also contributed to this report.
