Motorist hit head-on by pursuit driver walks away with only scratches

A motorist somehow walked away with just a few scratches after being struck head-on by a driver being pursued by police on the 405 Freeway in Los Angeles Friday.

Sky5 was over the freeway just before 5:30 a.m. as the van traveled in the wrong direction through Brentwood and slammed into three vehicles, including a gray four-door Saturn that took the brunt of the impact.

“The most amazing part of this whole story is it doesn’t seem that anyone else was hurt. At least not seriously,” KTLA’s Eric Spillman said.

Rudolf Anderson said he was in the Saturn behind one of the police vehicles when the van went around the officers and directly into his car.

Anderson said no one had time to get out of their vehicles before the crash.

“We did not know what was going on,” said Anderson, who somehow came away from the violent crash with only a cut on his chin. “It could have been worse,” he said.

Anderson said officers should have stopped the van before it reached the traffic break but he was not aware that the driver had been ramming patrol vehicles and that officers had tried several PIT maneuvers during the pursuit. 

Two officers were transported to a local hospital due to one of the incidents involving the suspect earlier in the morning.

The driver, who emerged from the wreckage bloodied but able to climb on top of a semi-truck also damaged in the crash, was taken away in handcuffs before being transported to a local hospital.