1. MyNewsLA – Venice Pier driver with fishing witness Daniel Lopez
2. KTLA – Woman drives on Venice Beach Pier before leading police chase
3. ABC7 Los Angeles – Woman pulled out of car in Marina del Rey
4. NBC Los Angeles – Driver suspected of striking cyclist
A woman who drove on the Venice pier, causing people to leap out of the way to avoid being struck, and then led officers on brief pursuit was in custody after the woman allegedly sped down the pier toward officers and other pedestrians, who scrambled out of the way.
Officers responded about 9:45 p.m. Sunday to a report of a suspect who drove a vehicle to the end of Venice Pier, near the 3100 block of Ocean Front Walk, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Some of the action was caught on cell phone video, and the woman allegedly struck a bicyclist, but there was no immediate word on that person’s condition.
Daniel Lopez, who was fishing with his son on the pier at the time, told NBC4 they had to twice dodge the vehicle. “It was extremely traumatizing for me,” Lopez told the station.
“Everybody was trying to yell, if you hear on the video, was trying to get everybody off the pier.”
Panic swept across the pier as beachgoers scrambled for safety.
A woman drove on the Venice Beach Pier and led Los Angeles Police Department officers on a short chase before her eventual arrest, after units responded to a radio call of a traffic collision involving a car and a bicyclist around 9:45 p.m. Sunday near the Venice Beach Pier.
“It appears a suspect, described as a woman, drove onto the Venice Beach Pier before leading officers on a pursuit,” the department spokesperson stated.
Once the woman left the pier, the pursuit intensified.
Officers chased the woman to nearby Marina del Rey, where she was stopped by an officer employing a PIT maneuver, police said.
The chase lasted mere minutes before ending near Via Marina and Pacific Avenue.
A police chase came to a dramatic end in Marina del Rey on Sunday night as officers smashed the windows of a car and pulled the driver out, with officers pulling a woman out of the driver’s seat and taking her into custody, and Los Angeles police saying the chase started at Venice Pier and only lasted about three minutes before it came to an end at Via Marina and Pacific Avenue.
Officers reportedly used spike strips during the chase before the woman stopped and locked the doors, and police were in a brief standoff before they decided to break open the windows and pull the woman out.
Law enforcement moved swiftly to extract the suspect from the locked vehicle.
Police say the driver rammed into a couple LAPD vehicles, and at least one officer was transported.
It was not clear whether any officers were injured — and there was no word on the cyclist — but authorities said the woman was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer.
The precise extent of injuries remained unclear Monday morning.
The woman was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer, but no officers were injured during the encounter and chase, according to the LAPD.
Conflicting reports emerged about whether officers sustained injuries in the collisions during the chase.
Social media video shows people avoiding the motorist as she drove on the pier while some were fishing, with the video’s caption alleging that the woman “appeared to be impaired,” but that detail was not confirmed by law enforcement.
Witness accounts on the pier painted a picture of terror as the vehicle accelerated toward them.
In the viral moment that sparked the pursuit,
officers responded to a report of a suspect who drove a vehicle to the end of Venice Pier near the 3100 block of Ocean Front Walk, after which the woman allegedly sped down the pier toward officers and other pedestrians, who scrambled out of the way of the vehicle.
The pier, typically reserved for foot traffic and fishing, became an unexpected highway as the woman drove from the parking area directly onto it in the Sunday evening hours.
Units responded to a radio call of a traffic collision involving a car and a bicyclist around 9:45 p.m. Sunday near the Venice Beach Pier, with the LAPD spokesperson stating “It appears a suspect, described as a woman, drove onto the Venice Beach Pier before leading officers on a pursuit,” and “As she was driving back, she drove into officers.”
The aforementioned social media video indicated that no civilians were injured but many were frightened by the situation.
Despite the harrowing nature of the incident, no members of the public sustained injuries.
The woman remained in custody awaiting further investigation and legal proceedings.