Burglary suspect leads police on wild chase through Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES (CNS / FOX 11) - Two accused burglars remain behind bars Friday morning after leading law enforcement on a bizarre, slow-speed chase, authorities said.

During the chase, the 20-year-old driver in a Ford Mustang convertible did doughnuts on Hollywood Boulevard, drove the wrong way on rain-slick streets and taunted pursuers before parking the damaged vehicle in a South Los Angeles neighborhood, where he and his 19-year-old passenger gave up.

The roughly 90-minute chase began about 3 p.m., when sheriff's deputies spotted the suspects, later identified as driver Herschel Reynolds and his passenger, Isaiah Young, who reportedly were involved in a burglary in Cerritos.

The burglary was reported about 1:25 p.m. Thursday, in the 12300 block of Charlwood Street, but Reynolds and Young fled the location before deputies arrived, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which patrols Cerritos.

Deputies received a description of the two young men and vehicle information from a neighbor and the Mustang was spotted by a sheriff's aero unit heading from the westbound Artesia (91) Freeway to the northbound Long Beach (710) Freeway, according to the sheriff's department.

The air unit followed the car until California Highway Patrol officers began a pursuit as Reynolds steered the dark-blue convertible north on the Harbor (110) Freeway toward downtown Los Angeles.

At one point, the men put the convertible top down, even though a steady rain was falling.

The vehicle headed north on the Hollywood (101) Freeway and exited at Hollywood Boulevard, where Reynolds brazenly spun the vehicle in tight "doughnut'' circles with pursing Los Angeles police vehicles nearby.

Reynolds then headed north on Laurel Canyon Boulevard, then east through the Hollywood Hills before emerging back on Hollywood Boulevard.

After getting onto the Hollywood Freeway again, the Mustang was cut off by a TMZ tour bus. Young threw something at the bus as the driver steered the Ford around it.

By then, a front tire of the Mustang was shredded, possibly from a spike strip, but Reynolds kept going, despite his exposed wheel rim.

Reynolds then headed south on the Hollywood and Harbor freeways before exiting at Adams Boulevard and continuing to the area of Central Avenue and 51st Street, where Reynolds stopped and got out, awaiting deputies who took him and Young into custody as a crowd of people gathered. A third man was also taken into custody where the pursuit came to an end.

Some of the onlookers talked to and high-fived the suspects, even taking selfies with the two men, before deputies arrived.

Other people cheered Reynolds and Young on as they passed during the chase and the two alleged burglars appeared to respond with fist pumps.

During the pursuit, the Mustang appeared to clip another vehicle, but Reynolds kept going.

Because of public safety concerns, police ended their pursuit of the Mustang as it made its way through South Los Angeles.

After the vehicle stopped, units from the LAPD stood by until sheriff's deputies arrived.

Reynolds and Young were taken to the sheriff's Cerritos Station, where they were to be booked on suspicion of burglary, among other charges.

Reynolds was being held in lieu of $50,000 bail and Young in lieu of $80,000, according to L.A. County jail records.

No arraignment date has been set for the suspects.

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