Police pursuit in South LA ends in fatal crash
LOS ANGELES - A bicyclist was killed after a short police chase ended in a multi-vehicle crash Wednesday, according to police.
The pursuit started around 6:10 a.m. and ended just minutes afterward in the area near Hooper and Vernon in South Los Angeles.
According to authorities, a pursuit was initiated after someone called 911 saying they were following a theft suspect.
Officers with the Los Angeles Police Department encountered the suspect on 48th and Central and tried to get him to pull over - but he didn't.
Just two minutes later, the suspect crashed into a man on a bicycle who was crossing at the intersection of 46th and Hooper, officials said.
The bicyclist, who was identified by the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner's office as Jose Monsalve Rojas, 46, was pronounced dead at the scene by Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics.
The suspect's vehicle flipped over, but he was uninjured and tried to run away before he was taken into custody, authorities said. He will be booked on a felony charge.
Some of the eight other vehicles that were hit during the collision were occupied, according to detectives on the scene, but no one required medical attention.
"That's not the way. Look at what happened. A person had to die because of that [pursuit]," one neighbor said.
Roads in the area were closed during the investigation but have since reopened.
