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Pursuit Leads to Dog Mayhem on 710 Freeway

A pursuit that ended on the 710 Freeway in Long Beach, California, left officers running across lanes trying to catch up to six pups that jumped out of the suspect's car Monday night.

The chase began on the 91 Freeway in Orange County, when the woman behind the wheel of a late-model Mercedes failed to stop for California Highway Patrol officers.

At one point, the driver accelerated to around 70 to 80 mph, then slowed to about 40 mph before transitioning onto the 710 Freeway headed south.

She continued driving around 30 mph on the freeway shoulder. A first attempt to stop the car using the precision immobilization technique (PIT), in which the car is forced sideways by another vehicle, failed when the driver kept going after spinning out.

At 9:40 p.m., a second PIT maneuver by a CHP vehicle sent the driver spinning into the center divider and the car came to a rest in the fast lane.

The driver refused to get out of the car near Pacific Coast Highway, and all lanes on the 710 Freeway were shut down.

Several dogs could be seen in the back seat of the car, and after the woman got out — barefoot and smoking a cigarette — three dogs scampered onto the blocked-off freeway.

A total of six dogs dogs were inside the car, and CHP began to chase and wrangle the pups.

The northbound lanes of the freeway were reopened by 10:15 p.m.

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