Police Pursuit of Suspected Stolen Vehicle Goes Through Whittier Cemetery

A police pursuit of a suspected stolen SUV taken from a cemetery in the Whittier area traveled through the cemetery and eventually came to an end peacefully against a guardrail in the San Gabriel Mountains Wednesday.

Newschopper4 Bravo was over the chase at approximately 4:45 p.m., as the driver led police on a chase through Rose Hills Memorial Park.

The vehicle was stolen Wednesday morning form the same cemetery, with law enforcement tracking the vehicle and spotting it in the Pico Rivera area near the intersection of Workman Mill Road and Pioneer Boulevard, according to the the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Pico Rivera Station.

The driver proceeded to avoid a spike strip laid out by law enforcement by driving on the grass at the exit of the cemetery. From there, the driver moved onto surface streets into the Avocado Heights area.

Shortly after 5 p.m., the driver continued into the La Puente area and was not driving notably fast.

About five minutes later, the driver continued the tour of the San Gabriel Valley and proceeded into the city of West Covina.

At approximately 5:15 p.m., the driver took the SUV on the side walk to avoid traffic and proceeded to pick up speed with police units close behind. The SUV moved into Covina, with the driver moving onto the wrong side of the road multiple times.

At 5:20, the pursuit moved into the city of Azusa, with police cruisers chasing close behind the vehicle.

At about 5:27, the driver decided to go off the road on North San Gabriel Canyon Road onto the shoulder, near the edge of a cliff. The vehicle appeared to get stuck. At that stage, the driver put his hands and head outside the vehicle.

At 5:35 p.m., the driver exited the vehicle with his hands raised and backed towards police officers. The man was taken into custody without further incident.