California Highway Patrol officers are investigating three suspects who told officers they didn’t know each other after they were arrested running from the same car following a high-speed pursuit livestreamed on social media.
CHP officers later identified the three men as “aspiring rappers” based on cellphone videos found on Instagram, according to court records, which were used to identify the suspects in the dangerous crash that left several vehicles damaged.
The investigation into the incident is ongoing, and CHP officials were not immediately available to discuss the potential charges pending from the March incident.
Just before 9:30 p.m. March 4, a CHP officer with the Newhall-area office saw a driver in a black BMW sedan heading north on Interstate 5, south of Calgrove Boulevard, “driving at a high rate of speed and using all lanes to pass,” according to a court record obtained by The Signal.
After pulling behind the BMW and observing numerous vehicle code violations, including an estimated average speed of about 90 mph, the CHP officer attempted to run the temporary plates on the vehicle and perform a traffic stop.
The BMW pulled to the right and slowed to 45 mph, and once the patrol vehicle pulled behind the sedan, it sped up to about 120 mph and took off, reaching 130 mph as it passed Magic Mountain Parkway, according to the investigating officer’s report.
The driver then continued to swerve until exiting at Newhall Ranch Road, nearly crashing into another car waiting at the four-lane off-ramp before turning right and heading east on Newhall Ranch.
At the intersection of Newhall Ranch Road and Gateway Village, the driver veered to the left and crashed into two sedans stopped at a red light, according to the officer’s report of the incident.
The pursuing officer briefly lost sight of the car as it made its way back onto Interstate 5 at speeds approaching 130 mph.
While continuing their patrol, officers reported seeing the car exit the freeway at Vista Del Lago Road and then re-enter heading south.
By this point, officers were able to resume their pursuit until the car crashed into a white Audi SUV while trying to exit the freeway at Magic Mountain Parkway, according to a court record of the incident. The driver then fled on foot, and his two passengers remained in the car and were taken into custody.
From a search of the car, officers reported finding 20 checks, none of which matched the vehicle’s occupants, which were hidden inside the gas cap cover plate of the car.
Officers also reported finding a pair of digital devices during their search that were confiscated and brought back to the Newhall-area Office as part of the officers’ investigation.
“When back at Newhall CHP office, both item No. 1 and item No. 2 began giving audible and visual alerts on their respective locked screens, indicating recent Instagram activity,” according to an officer’s report of the search. “The alerts were from ‘followers’ who were asking about the welfare of the occupants in the (suspect’s vehicle), leading (investigator) to believe that either suspect No. 1 and/or suspect No. 3 were actively using Instagram during the pursuit, possibly ‘live streaming’ their crime.”
