By Andrew J. Campa
Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles police pursuit ended in dramatic fashion Friday afternoon with SWAT team members using armored vehicles to box in the suspect’s truck then shattering the windows and tossing in gas canisters to coax the driver out.
The driver, an unidentified woman, was taken into custody after 12:30 p.m. while TV news helicopters broadcast the standoff live overhead.
Video of the incident showed SWAT team members smash out the truck’s rear and driver’s side’s windows with a metal pole, then use the pole to drop canisters of gas inside the truck cab to try to force the driver out.
After the first doses of gas, the woman kicked a passenger door open with her bare foot and briefly appeared, before closing the door and staying inside the truck.
A third canister of gas appeared to do the trick, with the woman exiting the vehicle where she was met by about a half-dozen police officers.
An LAPD spokesperson did not confirm what type of gas was used.
The incident took place in the driveway of a home near the intersection of Coldwater Canyon Avenue and Clawson Place about a half-mile south of Harvard Westlake School.
Police had halted traffic in and around the school and neighborhood for more than two hours.
Los Angeles Police confirmed they received a call at 9:30 a.m. that a driver in a gray Toyota Tacoma was involved in a felony hit and run.
Officers began a pursuit and laid out a spike strip at the intersection of Coldwater Canyon Avenue and Mulholland Drive that flattened at least one tire of the suspect’s vehicle at 10:06 a.m., according to the LAPD. Officers ordered her to stop but she continued.
Along the way, police attempted a PIT maneuver to disable the truck and eventually boxed it in, with multiple flat tires, in front of the Studio City home.
Police said the woman was taken to a local hospital for evaluation. A police spokesperson said the woman was likely using narcotics.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times .
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