LASD Locates Stolen Cadillac Escalade — Suspects Flees Vehicle, Impales Leg on Fence
- April 22, 2012
- recovery stories
On March 29, 2012, the owners of a 2002 Cadillac Escalade reported their vehicle stolen to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Lakewood Station.
LASD deputies completed a stolen vehicle report and had the Cadillac’s information entered into the state and federal crime computers. This routine police action automatically activated the LoJack transponder concealed within in the vehicle. Neither the owners nor law enforcement agents had to take any further action to initiate police tracking of the vehicle, as LoJack’s interface with the police is both seamless and instantaneous.
Minutes later, an officer from the California Highway Patrol Santa Fe Springs Area picked up the silent LoJack signal on his LoJack-equipped patrol vehicle. Following the visual and audible cues on the Police Tracking Computer, the officer began tracking the vehicle from the 105 Freeway at Lakewood Boulevard to Devenir Avenue in the city of Downey, where he observed the unoccupied vehicle. The officer requested back-up units join him at the scene.
Less than ten minutes later, the officer observed a male and a female enter into the vehicle and drive off. As he pursued the vehicle while awaiting his back-up, the suspect made a fast wide turn onto Puritan Street, lost control of the Cadillac and collided with another vehicle. The suspect jumped from the Cadillac, fled on foot, and as he attempted to hurtle over a spiked fence, caught himself in one of the spikes, impaling his leg. When the responding officers arrived, the suspect was taken into custody and transported to a hospital for treatment. The suspect was a Parolee with multiple prior vehicle thefts; he will be charged with several felony charges once released from the hospital. The female apparently had no involvement in the theft and was released at the scene.
The LoJack Vehicle Recovery System was installed in the Cadillac by Coast Cadillac in June 2002, at the original owner’s request.