Car in wild South L.A. chase heads into oncoming traffic, across park

A dramatic chase in South Los Angeles with the driver speeding across oncoming traffic and across a grassy park ended with a crash Thursday afternoon.

The silver sedan was chased by several sheriff’s deputies’ squad cars until the car –with part of its body flailing loose from the passenger side – fishtailed, jumped onto the sidewalk and into a fence before coming to a halt.

Deputies immediately surrounded the car, and the driver surrendered. The pursuit started after a sheriff’s deputy recognized the vehicle from a carjacking reported by Los Angeles police earlier in the day, said Sheriff’s Lt. Michael Hannemann.

Deputies chased the vehicle for only a few minutes before going into “surveillance mode” because the person was driving so erratically, Hannemann said. Broadcast news showed the driver speeding across a park twice, narrowly missing pedestrians on a sidewalk and heading into oncoming traffic.

The chase was the second in a matter of minutes involving the Sheriff’s Department in South L.A. Moments earlier, two people in a chase bailed from their vehicle and ran.

One man was seen casually jogging around, apparently looking for a place to hide until deputies closed in.

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