A stolen car chase that crossed two Southern California counties Wednesday afternoon turned into a high-speed spectacle on some of the region’s most congested freeways, with the suspect ultimately done in not by law enforcement tactics but by one very uncooperative rear tire.
The pursuit began around 5:15 p.m. when Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies initiated the chase, setting off what would become a roughly 30-minute, two-county ordeal spanning Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. The suspect wasn’t exactly discreet about his intentions, either.
Aerial footage captured the vehicle hitting triple-digit speeds on the 605 and 10 freeways, weaving across all lanes while at least four patrol units maintained pursuit. Afternoon commuters on two of Southern California’s busiest corridors found themselves sharing the road with someone who clearly had nowhere good to be.
Authorities backed off the chase at certain points due to the extreme speeds the driver was reaching, at which point the California Highway Patrol stepped in to take over the pursuit. That’s a fairly common protocol in California, where agencies weigh the risk of maintaining contact against the potential for a crash involving innocent drivers. At speeds north of 100 mph in heavy freeway traffic, the calculus tips rather quickly.
The vehicle involved appeared to be a Kia, reportedly stolen, and anyone who follows automotive news over the past few years won’t be surprised by that detail. The suspect likely thought triple-digit speeds and lanes full of afternoon commuters would be his way out. Instead, it was physics that made the decision for him.
A Flat Tire Accomplishes What Deputies Couldn’t
Midway through the pursuit, a tire separated from the rear passenger wheel of the Kia, which forced the suspect to reduce speed considerably though, notably, he still wasn’t ready to give up.
Running on a compromised wheel across Los Angeles freeway pavement is a good way to turn a felony evading charge into something considerably worse, and the suspect managed to continue for several more minutes before the situation finally resolved itself. Credit where it’s due: that’s commitment, however misguided.
Deputies Close In Just Before 6 PM
Just before 6 p.m., the suspect finally steered the vehicle onto the freeway shoulder. CHP officers approached from behind with weapons drawn, ordered the man out of the car, and took him into custody without further incident.
The whole thing was captured by news helicopters overhead, making it a very public end to a very public bad decision.
The Kia Theft Problem, Still Very Much a Problem
It bears mentioning that this incident is part of a broader pattern that has plagued Southern California and cities across the country for several years now. Starting around 2021 and 2022, a widely shared social media challenge revealed a security vulnerability in certain Kia and Hyundai models, particularly those manufactured between 2011 and 2022, that allowed them to be started without a key using nothing more than a USB cable.
The resulting theft wave was significant enough that both automakers faced legal action from multiple cities and eventually rolled out software patches for affected vehicles. Despite those fixes, stolen Kias continue to show up in police pursuit reports with regularity, particularly in the Los Angeles area.
What California Law Says About Pursuit Policy
California law gives law enforcement agencies wide discretion in how they handle pursuits, but most departments operate under policies that factor in vehicle speed, traffic density, and public safety risk before deciding whether to maintain a chase.
The CHP’s involvement here follows standard protocol: when a local agency backs off due to safety concerns, the Highway Patrol is often better positioned to manage or monitor a pursuit on state freeways. In some cases, rather than staying in close contact, officers will use aerial surveillance to track a suspect and wait for a safer opportunity to intervene.
Wednesday’s outcome, where the tire failure effectively made the decision for everyone, is something agencies genuinely count on when a driver hits those kinds of speeds.