A police department has released footage of the shocking moment that a man rammed a stolen government vehicle into several police cruisers before taking off on the highway and leading officers on a high-speed pursuit that ended in a standoff.
The suspect who ended up in an hours-long stoot-off with police was identified as Manuel Ramirez, 28. He was arrested following a violent pursuit that left three officers injured in LA last month, and the footage was so shocking it took weeks for the department to release it.
Ramirez initiated a pursuit in the Pacoima area after stealing a vehicle from the LA Department of Water and Power, speeding onto the southbound 5 Freeway, where he tried to ram officers and other drivers before exiting and pulling into a nearby parking lot. The police cam footage that’s shown starts around this time. The video they released is a compilation from various officers’ cameras. In the video, officers are pulling into the lot behind Ramirez when the man turns his vehicle and charges toward them.
He speeds forward, slamming into the doors of two police cruisers, backing up, and smashing into another nearby van. As the suspect nearly missed nearby officers and other patrol vehicles, shots were fired at him. But he kept driving, at least until the vehicle likely ran out of gas and police were able to corner Ramirez and the man.
Ramirez barricaded himself inside the vehicle and refused to come out. The situation went on this way for hours, as law enforcement attempted to take the suspect alive, as is the protocol. Eventually, two hours later, the fugitive reportedly surfaced out of the van’s window. Reports show he was injured and was bleeding heavily at the time.
Three officers were injured during the incident, and Ramirez had also taken fire from law enforcement. The car thief was taken to the hospital and treated for his injuries, and arrested after being discharged. Two of the officers were treated for their injuries on the scene, while the third officer was transported to a nearby hospital and treated. He has since been released and is recovering.. Ramirez was charged with assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer and his bail was set at $152,000.
California freeways are often the site of accidents and crimes. Around the same time, a 19-year-old California woman, Andrea Vazquez was found dead in an open field in Moreno Valley after being abducted and shot while in her boyfriend’s car at a park near Los Angeles.
Her body was discovered not far from where her phone last pinged, and her family found traces of blood, after having gone missing after a shooting incident at Penn Park in Whittier, California. Investigators say that the boyfriend fled the gunfire and when he returned to the vehicle, he “discovered blood” nearby and Andrea gone.
