A Police Pursuit

I was having a normal day on Monday, taking my daily walk with a baby and a dog around Venice (as I am employed as a nanny), and I stopped at a stop light, waiting for green so I could cross the street.

Just before the light turned green, I saw a police car drive through an alleyway behind a 7-11 that I was about to be headed straight towards- the policeman in such a hurry that his door wasn't fully closed at first.

And just after that I saw two more police cars in the same small alley, with their sirens on, and a man running away from them. A few seconds after that a police helicopter was above me.

It was right about this time I decided I wasn't crossing the street.

As I stayed on my side of the street and quickly walked away from the commotion, at least 8 police cars flew past me at full speed, sirens on, towards the scene I was walking away from.

I walked as far away from it as feasible and waited to be sure there were no more fast-driving police cars, then crossed the street and walked back home in the most efficient way possible.

It was definitely the most exciting walk I've had yet here in Venice.

I've found two articles explaining what I witnessed, apparently the police had been following a stolen white pickup truck from West LA to Venice, and it appears as though the pickup crashed into a gym next to 7-11 just as I got to the intersection, and then the driver attempted to flee on foot.

Much of the pursuit happened on Palms Blvd, which is exactly the street I was about to continue on. I am very thankful for the timing of it all, if I had made the previous green light, I would have likely been right in the middle of it.

less informative article: http://www.yovenice.com/2013/08/26/police-pursuit-in-venice-beach-8-26-13/
more informative article: http://venice311.org/2013/08/26/stolen-car-pursuit-ends-through-the-wall-at-profit-on-lincoln-in-venice/