It goes without saying that stealing a car is a crime that nobody should do even if they think they can get away with it, but stealing one while police is watching is just plain dumb. Nevertheless, that’s exactly what one man did in Hollywood before leading police in a chase to Beverly Hills. Only when the man attempted to break into a Bentley / Lamborghini dealer did police move in and arrest him.
Authorities say that they responded to calls about a break-in at around 11:30 p.m. Thursday, September 14th. The crime was happening at Toyota of Hollywood on the 6000 block of Hollywood Boulevard and sure enough, as they arrived, officers could see the suspect inside of the dealership. In fact, video captured by citizens at the scene shows the man walking throughout the building before rummaging through keys.
Ultimately, he found a set to a white Toyota Crown sedan and hopped in. To this point in the incident, it doesn’t appear that police attempted to stop him but instead chose to surround the building. Despite that, the man drove the Crown through one chain-link fence and then broke out of the dealer lot by smashing through a different metal fence.
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He then led police on a chase to Beverly Hills and at some point lost his front driver’s side tire. Fox LA reports that officers attempted to stop the suspect multiple times and even used the PIT maneuver three times. None of that ended up proving successful so they discontinued the pursuit but kept track of where the suspect was.
When he arrived at O’Gara Bentley Lamborghini he ditched the Toyota. Evidently, he appeared as though he might follow officer commands but was inconsistent. He then began throwing rocks at the glass walls of the exotic dealership. As he finally broke through one pane police tased him and took him into custody.
Authorities haven’t released any information on what charges the 22-year-old man is facing or any other personal information about him. What they do say is that nobody was hurt which sounds like a great outcome considering the potential danger in this situation.