5 arrested on suspicion of trying to steal car, ram police cruiser
An attempted vehicular burglary in Burbank on Sunday resulted in a police SUV getting rammed and five people being taken into custody, authorities said.
Officers with the Burbank Police Department were responding to the 1600 block of Camino de Villas around 3:30 a.m. after receiving word that four males were trying to break into a pickup truck. Although the males had left the area before police arrived, a witness was able to provide officers with a description of the vehicle the suspects were in when they left the scene.
Sgt. Derek Green, a department spokesman, said an officer soon spotted a vehicle matching the description occupied by several people and with its headlights off that was traveling toward her on East Tujunga Avenue. The car continued to drive toward her as a second officer arrived.
“As one of the officers exited his patrol vehicle, the suspect vehicle accelerated toward him,” Green said. “The officer got back into the car just as the suspect vehicle rammed the front driver’s door on the police SUV and continued fleeing.”
Several more police officers began to pursue the vehicle as it sped through residential streets. Eventually, the vehicle ended up in a cul-de-sac off of Vista Ridge and Valley View Crest.
Five people were arrested, four of them juveniles between the ages of 14 and 16, as well as a 19-year-old from Pacoima. Green said three of the teenagers were also from Pacoima, while the other lives in Desert Hot Springs.
Officers discovered the vehicle the five males were in was reported stolen out of Newhall the previous day.
Green said a loaded handgun was also found in the car with its serial number removed. It’s believed the gun was also stolen, he added.
The teenagers have since been charged with assault on a police officer with a vehicle, felony evading, grand-theft auto, burglary and hit and run. Prosecutors declined to charge the 19-year-old in the incident.
