A Los Angeles couple says a simple gesture at a stop sign took a bizarre and frightening turn when the driver they waved through instead drove onto the sidewalk and chased them into a park.
Ben and Celine were walking their dachshund, Olive, through the Mid-Wilshire area on Aug. 12 when they reached the intersection of West 9th Street and South Lucerne Boulevard. An orange hatchback was stopped at the intersection, and because the couple was on the phone, they waved the driver through.
He didn’t go.
Instead, the driver rolled down his window, cursed at the couple while asking if they spoke English, then turned his wheels toward them and accelerated over the curb, according to FOX 11.
Driver Follows Couple Onto the Grass at Harold A. Henry Park
Video captured by an Uber driver shows the orange car coming over the curb and heading toward Ben, Celine, and Olive as they moved onto the grass at Harold A. Henry Park.
“Almost immediately, he just turned his wheels, accelerated, and drove right at us, came up over the curb,” Ben told FOX 11.
Trees along the edge of the park appear to have prevented the driver from continuing straight toward the couple. That didn’t end the encounter.
Ben and Celine said the driver circled back through the park, slowed near them, and asked whether they were scared before driving south toward Olympic Boulevard.
“The scary thing was how fast it happened,” Ben said. “It was going on and over in a matter of seconds.”
Celine said she couldn’t sleep that night as she processed how differently the encounter could have ended.
The couple filed a report with the Los Angeles Police Department and provided investigators with the available footage. FOX 11 identified the vehicle as a 2019 Mitsubishi Mirage with Colorado license plate EWUW29.
The orange hatchback should also be fairly conspicuous. Celine said it has several bumper stickers on the rear in addition to the out-of-state plate.
A Similar Orange Car Showed Up in an Arizona Case
The license plate and distinctive car prompted an obvious question from people watching the footage: Who is driving it?
The search also produced a potentially interesting lead more than 400 miles away.
FOX 11 reports that people examining the footage found a similar orange car connected to a road-rage incident involving two women in Tucson, Arizona, in April.
According to the station’s review of that case, a 49-year-old man was charged with disorderly conduct. FOX 11 reports that he failed to appear for his arraignment, resulting in an arrest warrant and an order affecting his driver’s license.
There is currently no confirmation that the man from the Tucson case is the person who drove through Harold A. Henry Park.
That leaves the similar-looking car as a lead, not an identification. Ben and Celine hope LAPD investigators can determine whether there is any actual connection between the two incidents.
Viewers Have One Very Obvious Question About the License Plate
The FOX 11 report drew plenty of reaction on YouTube, with several viewers zeroing in on the same detail: Police have a description of the car, video of it, and a license plate number.
“You can’t be serious, this isn’t a mystery, you have a license plate and a photo and the car!” one commenter wrote.
“You have the licence plate #, look it up!” another said.
Another viewer wondered whether license-plate-reading cameras might have recorded the Mitsubishi, while someone else simply wrote, “I hope they get him quick.”
Others focused on what the video appears to show rather than how investigators might identify the driver.
“Isn’t that considered a deadly weapon at that point?” one person asked.
Another commenter wrote, “Wow, trying to run people over unprovoked? An individual like this should definitely NOT be on the road.”
A visible license plate can give investigators a place to start, but it does not by itself establish who was behind the wheel during a particular incident. That is one of the questions LAPD investigators still have to answer.
FOX 11 reports that the driver has not been caught. Anyone who sees the orange Mitsubishi has been advised not to follow the car or confront its driver and to call 911 instead.