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One of the more negative stereotypes about L.A. is the police pursuit. Nine times out of ten, they end innocuously, with the driver stopping after running over some spike strips and surrendering to police. Last night, however, two separate pursuits had deadly conclusions that resulted in five deaths.
The first pursuit involved a silver Corvette that raced through three cities before meeting its end in Downtown. The driver, who police initially tried to stop for reckless driving, snaked his way throughout parts of South Gate, Huntington Park and South L.A. before heading downtown, ABC 7 reports.
The Corvette eventually t-boned another car on the corner of Olympic Boulevard and Los Angeles Street, slamming into a tree as the other car ripped off a fire hydrant. The driver was apparently shot by police as he stumbled out of the wrecked Corvette and tried to run. He died a short time later.
"The suspect got out of the vehicle and at that point, something occurred that prompted the officer-involved shooting," LAPD Lt. Andy Neiman told NBC 4.
The second pursuit happened in Compton just before midnight. Three suspects in a red Pontiac Grand Am were fleeing police after an alleged shooting, City News Service reports. After a short five-minute chase, the Grand Am crashed into another car at the corner of South Wilmington Avenue and West Greenleaf Boulevard. Two men and one woman in the Grand-Am and a woman in the other car died at the scene
UPDATE 5:00 P.M.: Two of the passengers in the Pontiac Grand Am that slammed into another car in Compton were identified as 20-year-old Shawnice Osborne and 35-year-old Larry Gilmore. The woman in the other car was identified as 30-year-old Stacy Garcia Gray, according to ABC 7.
UPDATE 12/15:: The driver of the Corvette has been identified as Bryan Newt Beaird, according to KTLA. The 51-year-old Beaird was from Oceanside.
Ed. note: This post has been updated for accuracy. The driver of the Corvette stumbled out of the car before being shot. A previous version of this post claimed that he crawled.
