Reckless Driver Leads Police on Chase Pursuit ends in Officer Involved Shooting

Los Angeles: A 19-year-old reckless driver led police on a lengthy car chase, resulting in an officer-involved shooting.

On April 11th at about 9:45 p.m., a 19 year-old man committed a traffic violation in the Northridge area of Los Angeles.  Los Angeles Police Officers (LAPD) observed the traffic violation and attempted to stop the man to issue a traffic citation.  The driver failed to stop, and led police officers on a high speed pursuit on surface streets and on the 101 Freeway.   During the course of the pursuit, the suspect committed multiple traffic violations, and endangered the public by driving without regard to public safety.

While being pursued by the LAPD officers, the suspect called 911 and engaged in a lengthy conversation with the 911 operator.  Among the statements he made were:

“I have a gun.”
“I’ve been arrested before for possession of destructive devices, I’m not afraid of the cops.”
“If they pull their guns, I’m gonna have to pull my gun out on them.”

The 911 dispatcher implored the suspect to stop, telling him, “I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”  
The suspect responded, “I’m not gonna get hurt S---head, F--- these police, they’re gonna get hurt”.

The pursuit terminated on the 101 Freeway near Canoga Avenue, when the suspect initiated the stop with the officers.  The suspect picked both the time and place for this tragic incident to occur.

Immediately upon exiting his car, the suspect took what appeared to be an aggressive “shooting stance” several times, extending his arms out, and pointing an unknown object at the officers. This caused the officer at the scene to believe he was armed with a handgun.

Contrary to the suspect’s statements to the 911 operator, and contrary to his actions at the scene, the preliminary investigation indicates he did not have a gun at the time the Officer Involved Shooting occurred.

Incidents involving Officer Involved Shootings are investigated by the LAPD’s Force Investigation Division, and are the most detailed and comprehensive Officer Involved Shooting investigations in the nation.

Force Investigation Division responded to the incident and will conduct a thorough investigation of the officer-involved shooting and all related crimes.   The investigation will ultimately be reviewed by the Chief of Police, the Office of the Inspector General and Board of Police Commissioners for compliance with the Department’s use-of-force policy which states that an officer’s use-of-force actions must be objectively reasonable.

Anyone with information about this incident is urged to call the FID at 213-486-5230. During non-business hours or on weekends, calls should be directed to 1-877-LAPD-24-7 (877-527-3247).  Anyone wishing to remain anonymous should call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (800-222-8477). Tipsters may also contact Crime Stoppers by texting to phone number 274637 (C-R-I-M-E-S on most keypads) with a cell phone.  All text messages should begin with the letters “LAPD.”  Tipsters may also go to LAPDOnline.org, click on "webtips" and follow the prompts.

Comments

[Chris Manelski]

Driving is dangerous enough.
Trying to out run the Police can result in fatalities of those of us who are just commuting or crossing an intersection as pedestrians. This means that a driver who is unwilling to obey vehicular laws has further demonstrated a willingness for law-enforcement attempting to protect those of us in compliance, in my opinion, should be stopped as soon as possible from potentially killing me or one of my loved ones, in their crazy attempts of out running the law by putting everyone else's life on the line. If we allow everyone, who doesn't want a traffic ticket the right to, not pull-over & call 911 or their attorney & use an excuse, such as, "I am afraid to obey a policeman, so I will not comply with the laws or those enforcing them". Then we are not thinking about safety. We are not thinking about what is most important. Police officer's become officer's because they want to save lives, prevent tragedies and protect their communities, it's citizen's so together we can all enjoy our daily activities without cause harm to one another. In closing, I must say the wreckless abondonment for the safety of a community's citizens for the benefit of a criminal get-a-way, is very much an act of terrorism. And once an individual has demonstrated their disregard for the safety of human life, it should not come as a surprise to any of us, that, the individual died in the course of being stopped because the authorities could not trust the actions being performed by these individuals. End of story! Next case.

[Raymond Holt]

An open letter to the officers involved in last nights shooting of Abdul Arian.

I and many other like me want to pass along our thanks for your bravery during last nights incident. It's obvious to anyone watching the chase, that this young man was either emotionally unstable or he was bent on killing police officers when he exited his car on the freeway.

When I saw the officer rush up to the rear of Abdul's car as Abdul got out and pointed what we all thought was a gun, I thought we were witnessing the death of a police officer. My heart sank as I saw the officer go into a panic stop as Abdul took a shooting stance 10-15ft away and aimed directly at the officer.

The fact that Abdul didn't have a gun is proof that this was a deranged kid who was playing stupid games or a kid who wanted to commit a suicide by cop. How in God's name can anyone put in that situation, facing an unknown assailant in the dark, running on the freeway taking repeated shooting stances directly at police, then taking cover behind the stopped car on the shoulder, expect not to be fired upon ??? The police are NOT cannon fodder, you're not expected to die before finding out if a suspect is armed or is pretending to be armed.

From the perspective of many people who watched last nights chase, you had no option but to open fire on Abdul. For some unknown reason he played a stupid game with his life and he lost.

While watching the end of the pursuit, I thought it was a miracle no officers were shot or killed. Then I realized how tragic it was for the family to have witnessed their son, brother, nephew, cousin to have been killed right in front of their eyes. I couldn't imagine watching my son being killed in front of me, but that doesn't change the fact that Abdul was dictating how the situation was unfolding.

Still, nobody put in your position last night would have done anything different and God forbid if Abdul had a gun, the outcome would have been very different, with your family and us mourning the death of at least one officer.

Realize this, while your actions or inactions will be dissected with a microscope in the coming weeks by the LAPD, Abdul's family & the media, there is a silent majority who support you and the daily work you do in protecting our society.

I have every confidence that your actions will be found to be prudent and the only course this event could have taken. In the end, all Abdul had to do to save his own life was to pull over, accept his traffic ticket and be on his way. Bottom line is that Abdul is responsible for the actions that resulted in his death. None of you have anything to be ashamed of or upset about because you did your job and you're going home to your families.

Yours very sincerely,

Ray Holt

[ernest.]

My respects to you Ray. God Bless the LAPD nobody appreciates them until they really need them.

[zur]

The officers should get a medal of bravery

[Mariam]

I think the officer used excessive use of force by shooting a unarmed teenager over 120 rounds, I know the above comments are made by the family of the officers who are involved in the excecution of Abdul, hence the officer should and I hope will go to jail for a long time.