When deputies in Santa Cruz County responded to reports of a man firing a handgun in the air, little did they realize what they were in for, as they quickly became embroiled in a Hollywood-worthy high-speed car chase.
At around 3:30pm local time on Tuesday, police received reports of a man shooting a handgun in the air, but before they could even reach the scene, they received reports that a man with the same description had now hijacked a car in the area and sped off. GTA Santa Cruz was apparently underway.
Car (and driver) into the ocean on West Cliff Drive in #SantaCruz after carjacking and pursuit hit speeds of 100+ mph, per an SCPD officer. Driver survived, was arrested, and left the scene in an ambunlance. Unknown whether there were any passengers. #CHP#pursuit@nbcbayareapic.twitter.com/bmAFbQzjZ3
The responding local deputies attempted to stop the car but were unsuccessful and had to let the local police department take over the 100mph (160kph) chase. However, the suspect took things a little too far when trying to evade the cops and eventually got a little too up close and personal with the gorgeous Santa Cruz scenery.
pic.twitter.com/aI1RsqavBX
It seems the adrenaline pushed the man over the edge, literally and figuratively, as shortly after 4pm the speed demon drove off the edge of a cliff, plunging the pilfered Honda into the Pacific.
@ksbwpic.twitter.com/OCNins3fSt
The man miraculously survived the fall, managed to escape the sinking car only to be taken into custody at gunpoint by armed police. Rescue swimmers were drafted in to ensure there was no one trapped in the vehicle and no injuries were reported from the entire incident.
A suspect fleeing in a stolen car drove over a cliff, into the surf. Moments later, suspect was safely taken into custody. Thanks all #SantaCruz#LEO for helping out keeping our community safe & especially SCFD & county wide rescue swimmers for deploying on a moment’s notice. pic.twitter.com/tOzRN72HTD
Some weren’t happy that the suspect was pursued at all, though they seemingly weren’t concerned about any falling bullets the man might have fired up in the air prior to leading the police on a high speed chase on land, air and finally sea.
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