Nearly one-quarter of the vehicle pursuits Los Angeles Police Department officers initiated since 2018 have ended in crashes that led to injuries or deaths, a department report showed this week.
From 2018 to through 2023 so far, LAPD officers chased suspects in vehicles 4,203 times. Of those, 1,032 pursuits ended with someone injured, whether that was a minor injury, a more severe one or a fatal injury.
Fourteen people have died in the LAPD pursuits, according to the numbers.
Among those deaths were the suspects themselves in some instances, but more frequently, an innocent bystander was the person killed — five of the deaths were the pursuit suspects, while nine were killed who were not involved in the chase.
“This year alone, we’ve seen several devastating injuries as a result of police pursuits,” said L.A. Police Commission President William Briggs.
He said the deaths and renewed focus on whether it’s possible for police to safely chase suspects through crowded city streets has “raised the specter that pursuing suspects may not be the best avenue in some circumstances.”
The commission, which heard a presentation of the numbers in their meeting Tuesday, April 25, asked for the report after a series of deaths following police pursuits in the San Fernando Valley so far this year.
In January, two men, both fathers in their 40s from Granada Hills, were killed when a stolen pickup truck plowed into their car when they were coming home from eating tacos in Panorama City. The driver of the pickup, which was reported stolen, had been fleeing after officers attempted to stop him.
In February, a 19-year-old Cal State Northridge student from Reseda was killed when a man suspected of an armed robbery smashed the SUV he was driving into the back of the student’s sedan stopped at a red light about a mile south of campus.
LAPD Deputy Chief Donald Graham, who commands the department’s Transit Services Bureau, said in Tuesday’s meeting he…
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