Present Day-Development’s: Wild LA Chase Gets Crazier When Motorcyclist Tries to Open Suspect’s Door

This LA Chase Had a Gas Stop, a Biker and a Wrong-Way Crash

Today’s Present Day-Development’s was less a wild goose chase and more a full-on Los Angeles traffic fever dream — the kind of Wild Wild West driving that makes you wonder how everybody else on the road got home with their bumpers still attached.

A burglary suspect in a black 2025 Honda Accord led LAPD officers on a sprawling Friday-morning pursuit through the San Fernando Valley on August 21, 2026. The chase moved through North Hollywood, surface streets, the 101 and the 405 — but even by L.A. pursuit standards, this one kept finding new levels of ridiculous.

Police spotted the driver at about 10:10 a.m. near Oxnard Street and Lankershim Boulevard after he allegedly matched the description of a burglary suspect. He refused to stop, and what followed was roughly 90 minutes of freeway exits, red lights, residential streets and escalating chaos.

Shortly before 11 a.m., the Honda entered the 405 in Encino and headed north through North Hills. The driver later exited in Mission Hills, went under the freeway and used an exit ramp to get back on — eventually making a U-turn and continuing south.

Then came the pit stop. The suspect pulled into an Arco near Nordhoff Street and Aqueduct Avenue and briefly stopped for gas — because apparently keeping the tank full was still somewhere on the day’s priority list. He peeled away again as police arrived.

But thee moment that really pushed this thing into its own category came when a civilian motorcyclist decided to get involved. The helmeted rider pulled alongside the Honda, gestured toward the driver and followed him through part of the pursuit.

At around 11:15 a.m., the Honda stopped at an intersection. The motorcyclist got off the bike, walked toward the car and attempted to open the front passenger-side door. Before that little citizen-arrest side quest could go any further, the suspect hit the gas and took off again.

The chase still was not done. The Honda went through a Cal State Northridge parking structure, returned to surface streets and was T-boned by another driver at an intersection in Granada Hills. Police moved toward the damaged car, but the suspect managed to continue.

Minutes later, at least one tire was damaged after the car possibly hit a spike strip. Even that did not end it. The Honda eventually returned to the 405, reversed direction and began traveling the wrong way on the freeway.

That is where this absolutely bonkers pursuit finally ended: the wrong-way Honda crashed head-on into a California Highway Patrol SUV. The suspect jumped from the car and ran down an embankment before officers caught up with him and took him into custody.

Local reporting said a CHP officer was injured in the collision and taken for medical treatment. Authorities had not publicly identified the burglary suspect or released details about the underlying burglary investigation as of Friday evening.

So yes: a gas stop, a random motorcyclist trying the passenger door, a parking-garage detour, another crash, shredded tire drama, wrong-way 405 driving and a head-on collision with CHP. Typical day in Los Angeles? No. But somehow also extremely Los Angeles.

Watch the Wild LA Chase as a Motorcyclist Tries to Open the Suspect’s Car Door

ABC7’s footage follows the San Fernando Valley pursuit, including the motorcyclist’s bizarre roadside intervention before the chase ends on the 405.

Sources: ABC7/KABC; Los Angeles Times.