California: Driver broadcasts chase with toddler in car live

A Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy cares for a two-month-old girl after a dangerous chase on July 17, 2024. (KTLA)

LOS ANGELES (KTLA) – A man wanted for an alleged armed robbery who led authorities on a dangerous high-speed chase with his girlfriend and 2-month-old daughter in the car on Wednesday streamed the chase live on his Instagram account.

The incident began with a trio of suspects wanted in connection with an armed robbery in Beverly Hills.

According to Nexstar’s KTLA, two of the suspects were quickly arrested.

However, the third suspect reportedly had his girlfriend pick him up.

This car was later spotted in Hawthorne, which led to a chase involving officers from the Hawthorne Police Department. The pursuit was eventually taken over by officers from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department when it entered their jurisdiction.

The suspect made his way to downtown Los Angeles, where the KTLA helicopter captured him traveling along county roads at speeds of 80 miles per hour, coming dangerously close to colliding with a Metro bus, ignoring red lights and stop signs, weaving through heavy traffic, and driving on the wrong side of the road.

While viewers watched the action live on television, the drama inside the vehicle was streamed on the driver’s Instagram account.

In this footage, the suspect’s girlfriend can be heard demanding that he stop and yelling at him to let her and his child out of the car.

“Just let us out of the car,” she was heard saying.

“Those are the sheriffs, they’re going to kill me,” he replies.

“You’re not thinking about your baby right now,” she says. “You’re about to have your baby killed.”

“Brother, I don’t want to go to prison again,” he says.

“It’s over, brother, it’s over,” she screams back. “It’s real.”

Nearly an hour into the pursuit, the suspect turned into a dead-end street in LA’s Blair Hills neighborhood and was quickly surrounded by patrol cars.

After a brief standoff in which the suspect shows authorities that his daughter is in the car, both he and his girlfriend, who was holding their child, get out of the vehicle.

The friend was quickly taken behind the police line, where she handed over the child, was handcuffed and placed in a patrol car.

The man was also handcuffed and taken into custody.

The child was later seen to be in the care of a deputy sheriff.

“I saw that she was just crying, so I just wanted to calm her down and make sure she was OK,” said Deputy Adriana Martinez. “It reminded me of the time I held my daughter to make sure she was OK, and she was just crying. It was just my motherly instinct. I was glad I was there and could take care of her.”

The child remained unharmed during the ordeal.

The mother was reunited with her daughter at the police station. It is unclear whether charges will be filed against her.

The robbery suspect, who is on probation, is believed to face several charges, including auto theft, robbery, kidnapping and weapons possession.