California police chase big rig in low-speed pursuit

Highway patrol made five attempts at stopping truck before chase ended

California Highway Patrol (CHP) were led on an hours-long police chase across Los Angeles after a freight truck was stolen and nearly avoided capture.

The chase began on Wednesday around 8.14pm when the freight truck, also called a “big rig”, was stolen from a food court at Fifth and Indiana streets in east Los Angeles.

The truck, as NBC4 reported, was white with a red “IFS” logo on its side, and was stolen from an Individual Food Service worker who alerted police to the stolen vehicle.

CHP followed the stolen truck across Los Angeles — following the 18-wheel vehicle along Hollywood Freeway and the Santa Ana Freeway in Commerce, where the chase finished around 11pm.

According to CHP officer Patrick Kimball, the truck was only stopped on the fifth attempt with CHP deploying spike strips to blow the tires out to bring the big rig to a stop.

It had already been fleeing CHP at speeds of 20mph with two blown tires, but that was not enough to stop the pursuit going on for three hours.

A number of TV stations had helicopters following the chase, causing Fox11 presenters to remark: “You can’t really hide.”

“It’s like Shaquille O’Neal was late the other day for the NBA on TNT show and you can’t exactly sneak in here at 7ft 2in. Somebody’s going to notice”.

It remains unclear what, if any, charges were filed against the driver of the stolen big rig.

The Independent has reached out to California Highway Patrol for further information.