Southern California police chase stolen party bus for miles before driver smashes into car and surrenders

The car-jacking didn’t stop the original client from getting their party bus

Los Angeles police chase a stolen party bus on 22 February, 2022. (NBC Los Angeles)

Bringing the idea of crashing a party to new heights, a driver led southern California police on a wild chase for miles in a stolen party bus before ramming into another driver and being captured by officers.

The driver first snatched the party bus from the San Diego area around 10am, as it headed to pick up a client in the Pacific Beach neighbourhood.

Once the bus, a 2018 Ford, was reported stolen from Top Dog Limo, police pursued the party bus up the 405 freeway. They even deployed a spike strip, but the driver swerved around it.

“We get a call from a driver off the 405 complaining to us that the person driving it was driving crazy on the freeway and doing 90 mph and I explained to him that was a stolen bus and he stayed on the phone until we called dispatch and got somebody out there,” Suzie Leitzke, owner of Top Dog Limo, told KTLA.

Things came to a halt around 12.40pm as the driver neared Palmdale, north of Los Angeles, and rear-ended a silver sedan on the 14 freeway before skidding into the oncoming lane of traffic.

There, news helicopters captured armed police emerging from three squad cars, and arresting a woman at gunpoint. The driver of the sedan was able to walk out of the wreck to be treated by paramedics.

Police have not yet identified the suspect in the bus-jacking.

And what of the original party, disrupted by the car chase?

According to Ms Leitzke, the client was given a replacement bus, and the festivities presumably proceeded as planned.