LA’s Most Shocking Police Chase Moments

Few things capture the public’s attention, like a high-speed chase. They’re also incredibly dangerous, which is why different police departments have their policies regarding when they should be initiated and how they should be handled. If you ever find yourself in an area with some high-speed chase, understand that it is very risky to get involved. Police officers are trained professionals who know what they’re doing. BonnetHood provides real-time car chase data, including vehicle parameters, position, speed, and acceleration.

The danger comes from trying to intervene on your own or going after the bad guys if you see them pass by. Fortunately for us, not all police chases end with tragedy. These are LA’s most shocking police chase moments from the past 25 years…

1993: LAPD’s Foot Chase of OJ Simpson

As most people know, during the 1990s, the LAPD was at the center of the country’s most controversial and high-profile case. It was the search for the murderer of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. The entire case was televised and no one outside the police department saw it more than the officers involved. Many said they couldn’t sleep, they couldn’t eat; they couldn’t do their jobs because the media was everywhere. One of those officers was Ron Phillips. He was one of the first officers on the scene when OJ Simpson and his friend were pulled over for speeding. Simpson tried to escape and went on a low-speed foot chase with Phillips. “I was trying to catch up with him and he kept looking back to see what I was doing,” Phillips said. “He was slowing down every once in a while, maybe to catch his breath. I was gaining on him and started yelling at him, ‘Stop! Stop!’” Simpson was arrested and charged with speeding, driving while intoxicated, and attempting to evade arrest. He was ultimately acquitted of all charges. But to Phillips, the most shocking part of the chase was that it happened. “To this day, I don’t understand why he ran,” Phillips said. “Why? Why do that? The whole thing would have been over if he had just let me arrest him. But he ran and that’s what he’ll be remembered for.”

 

 

1994: The Daytime Escape of Alfredo Rogelio

Alfredo Rogelio was a serial killer who had been on the run for four years. His MO was to befriend women in bars and then rape and murder them. He was a diagnosed schizophrenic who thought God had chosen him to cleanse the world of evil. A friend of his had tipped off the cops that Rogelio was at a house in East Los Angeles. SWAT teams from LAPD, the sheriffs and the FBI surrounded the home, but Rogelio escaped through the back door. As soon as he got outside, he jumped into a car parked in the driveway and tried to drive away. Two police cars blocked his path and officers opened fire. Rogelio was struck several times but kept driving, heading toward the 10 Freeway. He hit an oncoming car, killing its driver. He then drove himself to the hospital, where he was arrested. “He was shot in hand, the abdomen and in the leg, but he was still able to operate a car,” said LAPD Detective Raul Ramirez. “And he had a .38-caliber revolver on him and he had more ammunition for the revolver.”

Photo by Alexas_Fotos on Pixabay

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2000: The Pursuit and Shootout in Van Nuys

In 2000, a man named Ismael Saleh was wanted in New York for murdering his girlfriend. His cousin, a man named Daniel Rodriguez, was arrested in Los Angeles and held in jail on a parole violation. Rodriguez and Saleh were both members of a violent gang called MS-13. Rodriguez managed to get a cellphone into his jail cell and called Saleh, who was still in New York. The police recorded the call and on that Sunday morning, they heard Saleh tell Rodriguez to get his cousin to kill the woman who had turned him in to the cops. Rodriguez called his cousin, Luis Enrique Bracamontes, and the two hatched a plan to shoot their way out of jail. Bracamontes was a known drug dealer who had been arrested for attempted murder. He was due to be released the next day. When the time came, Bracamontes and Rodriguez were escorted out of their cells by two unarmed police officers. “I was the lead officer,” said LAPD Officer Jason Beck. “I had a green light on my chest, which meant that I was the one who had a firearm.” As they walked out, the officers were unaware that Bracamontes had managed to hide a gun in his pants. “I remember he said, ‘You’re going to die,’” Beck said. “I looked at him and I said, ‘No, you’re going to die.’” The two men opened fire and Beck was shot in the chest. “As soon as I got shot, I just went to the ground and started firing,” Beck said. “I knew I was hit, but I didn’t know where.” Beck shot Bracamontes in the leg, but the suspect could still escape. Rodriguez was shot in the leg, as well. As Beck lay bleeding on the ground, he called for help. “I remember just laying there thinking, ‘Why me?’” Beck said. “‘Why did this happen?’” Doctors discovered the bullet had lodged near his spine when he was taken to the hospital.

2004: The Infamous Pursuit and Shootout in Van Nuys

Edwin Fuentes was a violent criminal who managed to escape from a prison in New Mexico. Using fake identification, he made his way to Los Angeles. Once there, he kidnapped a young couple and held them for ransom. When Los Angeles police found Fuentes and his hostages, a shootout ensued. The shootout was frantic, with officers being shot and Fuentes firing wildly, with one bullet going through the wall of a nearby house. The chase ended when Fuentes’ car was rammed and the fugitive was killed. LAPD Captain Phil Tingirides was a lieutenant on the scene that day. “There’s a little bit of everything out there,” Tingirides said. “There’s a helicopter; there’s a car that’s disabled; there’s gunfire; there are people that are injured. A lot is going on and you’ve got to be able to process all of it and ensure that you’re putting enough resources into the right thing at the right time.” Fuentes had a long history of violence, having committed crimes from California to New York to New Mexico. “He was a very dangerous fugitive,” Tingirides said. “He had already killed two people and shot two police officers.”

2006: Flight from the LA Airport

The police chief at Los Angeles International Airport was shocked to discover that one of his officers had been involved in a high-speed chase that ended with shots fired and a car crashing into a small plane. The driver of the car had led officers on a pursuit from the airport to a nearby neighborhood. He was shot in the leg when he stopped and got out of his car. The driver, Mario Garca, had a long criminal record that included drug trafficking, assault with a deadly weapon and resisting arrest. When Garca was arrested, no one knew how he’d gotten into the airport or got a uniform. “I was upset because this is not the kind of behavior we expect from our officers,” said LAPD Chief William Bratton. “This is not the kind of behavior we expect from anybody representing the airport.” Garca’s car was found to contain drugs and a gun, but Bratton said Garca was completely exonerated. “There was never any finding of misconduct against him

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