LA carjacking victim dragged, killed during police pursuit

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A carjacking victim died after being dragged along with the vehicle allegedly driven by a homicide suspect who was fleeing Thursday, the Los Angeles Police Department said.

Detectives from the department’s Gang and Narcotic Division were conducting surveillance on 7th Avenue around 5 p.m. Thursday and spotted a murder suspect getting into a car with another person, a Twitter post by the LAPD said.

The detectives tried to conduct a traffic stop and a chase ensued. During the pursuit, the car crashed and the homicide suspect got out of the passenger side and carjacked a nearby vehicle, police said.

“The murder suspect drove away from Florence Avenue and Haas Avenue, dragging the carjacking victim,” the LAPD said on Twitter.

The driver of the stolen car became entangled with the vehicle and was dragged for nearly a mile as the suspect tried to escape, KABC-TV reported.

The carjacking victim was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

The vehicle rolled over at Florence and Prairie avenues in Inglewood, but the suspect would not get out of the car, leading to a standoff with police.

“SWAT and K9 were on scene and negotiated with the murder suspect to exit the vehicle for two hours. The murder suspect was ultimately taken into custody without incident,” police said.

The names of the victim and the suspect were not immediately available.