ABC 7 captured video of the car colliding with the scooter. Scroll down to view.

By Gary Walker
A multi-city car chase that crossed three counties and saw the driver slam into a man riding a Bird scooter in Playa del Rey before leading police on a mad dash through Orange County ended hours later with an afternoon arrest in San Diego County.

The pursuit began in Culver City after police officers tried to pull over a red Honda Accord just before 11:30 a.m. at Washington Boulevard. The suspect then sped away, racing through surface streets and crisscrossing Westside communities of Westchester and Playa del Rey as Culver City police notified LAPD Pacific Division officers that the suspect was in their jurisdiction.

It was initially thought that Culver City officers suspected that the vehicle was stolen but that was not confirmed.

The Honda struck the scooter rider as it fled down the 7800 block Manchester Avenue near Saran Drive in Playa del Rey. Firefighters responded to the collision and transported an unidentified man to a local hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening.

The LAPD helicopter deployed a helicopter to join chase near Playa Vista.

Capt. James Setzer of Pacific Division said the driver was able to elude the officers’ detention maneuvers that police employ to contain fleeing cars.

“LAPD made several attempts to ‘PIT’ (Pursuit Intervention Technique) the suspect, but he outmaneuvered our units. Ultimately, he made it to the freeway and the CHP took over the pursuit,” Setzer said.

Two such maneuvers were attempted on Westchester Parkway and La Tijera Boulevard. The driver evaded them after losing his rear bumper and racing away from the containment attempt at high speeds.

The suspect sped onto the 405 Freeway near Marina del Rey heading south, continuing to elude arrest as the chase extended into Orange County and eventually into San Diego County.

After a half-hour standoff near Camp Pendleton, the suspect pulled over to the side of the 5 Freeway and surrendered. California Highway Patrol officers swarmed the suspect and took him into custody.

ABC 7 POSTED THIS VIDEO OF THE SCOOTER RIDER BEING STRUCK, WHICH MAY BE DISTURBING TO SOME VIEWERS:

Neighborhood leaders support continued operation of natural gas facility

By Gary Walker

SoCal Gas Co. may close up to a third of the gas monitoring wells at its Playa del Rey storage field
Google Photo by Andrew Mass

As Los Angeles County leaders and Porter Ranch residents fought tooth-and-nail to keep the Southern California Gas Co. from reopening its Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility, Neighborhood Council of Westchester-Playa members were getting ready to show the company some local love.

On Aug. 1 — just three days after a state appeals court ruled that SoCal Gas could resume natural gas injections at the site of what’s widely regarded as the worst natural gas leak in U.S. history — Westchester-Playa leaders sought to pass a resolution to “fully endorse the Gas Company’s continued safe and efficient operation of its Playa del Rey storage location.”

Instead, a parade of local residents and a couple of board members who weren’t sold on the timing of the resolution convinced the council to host an informational community meeting with SoCal Gas representatives sometime later this year.

More than a dozen speakers lobbied for the council to defer voting until Los Angeles City Council committees complete an analysis of local oil and gas regulations and decide whether SoCal Gas should build a 2,500-foot buffer between its Playa del Rey gas facility and homes in the bluffs overlooking Culver Boulevard.

“This [motion] seems very premature,” said Stephanie Tatro, a social worker and Playa del Rey resident among those who argued that it would be more responsible for the neighborhood council to let policymakers finish their work.

Neighborhood council member Michele Cooley-Strickland said a community meeting, possibly even coupled with a tour of the facility, would allow residents to directly interact with SoCal Gas staff and ask pointed questions.

“As a homeowner and parent who can see the plant from my windows, I had concerns about potential accidents affecting local homes and wetlands until I became much more knowledgeable about this specific facility, its history, operations, and the role it serves in energy supply for California,” Cooley- Strickland said. “The public would be better served by firsthand education and dialog with SoCal Gas experts than a letter from the board endorsing the Gas Co.’s operations in Playa del Rey, particularly as the letter was written.”

Playa del Rey residents have expressed growing concerns about gas leaks since the October 2015 leak at Aliso Canyon, with a grassroots campaign to close the facility picking up steam earlier this summer.

The Playa del Rey storage facility is much smaller and much less active than the Aliso Canyon facility, however. There are 114 gas wells in Aliso Canyon, compared to 54 in Playa del Rey.

SoCal Gas has already convened community advisory councils and activated a community telephone, text and email notification system for neighbors of both the Playa del Rey and Aliso Canyon facilities.

Neighborhood Council of Westchester-Playa President Cyndi Hench said she was happy the council will set up a community meeting with SoCal Gas.

When activists campaigning to shutter the Playa del Rey facility held a town hall meeting in June, Hench circulated a letter warning locals not to fall for “misinformation” about the Playa del Rey gas storage facility.

“The community needs to understand the facility and its operations better. That was clear from the misinformation that was shared in public comment and the comments from the board,” Hench said last week. “No one benefits from misinformation.”

Deutsch Good’s Lena Khouri pairs millennial values with agency talent

By Shanee Edwards

Khouri and Deutsch Good team member Lukas Miller have helped to renovate a homeless services center in Venice, clean up the beach in Santa Monica and find homes for rescue dogs
Photo by Maria Martin

After Lena Khouri graduated from college, she was excited to begin a career in entertainment. But after nearly two years at Creative Artists Agency, she was yearning to rely less on her thick skin and more on her creativity.

Luckily, Khouri found her dream job at Deutsch L.A., the Playa Vista-adjacent advertising agency widely known for the Volkswagen commercial that features a little boy dressed as Darth Vader, attempting to use “The Force” to start the car. But after just four months at Deutsch, Khouri discovered she had a new yearning — to use her creativity to make the world a better place.

“I knew Deutsch did some big things, like Habitat for Humanity, but I just felt there could be an initiative to bring people together within the agency because we’re kind of separated by accounts. It could also be a really cool opportunity to use our creativity to give back to the community. So I ran the idea by my mentor [former Deutsch colleague Andrew Dubois],” Khouri recalls.

Liking what he heard, Dubois suggested bringing the idea to Deutsch President Kim Getty. Armed with a PowerPoint presentation and very little advertising experience under her belt, Khouri did just that. And hit it out of
the park.

“She loved it. She partnered me with Karen Costello, who’s one of our creative execs who had a similar idea,” says Khouri. “Together, we co-founded Deutsch Good.”

For the past three years, Deutsch Good has been holding monthly events focused on giving back to the community. The entire agency votes on at least one cause (like water conservation or childhood hunger), but anyone can pitch a project they feel passionately about.

The program has been so popular, it’s expanded to the New York office.

But Deutsch’s decision to add a philanthropy arm isn’t just about the warm and fuzzy feelings that come from helping people, it’s also a smart way to attract and keep millennial talent.

Deutsch Executive VP and Director of Communications Theresa Collins says that’s a trend happening everywhere.

“Young talent in all industries want to work for purpose-driven companies. Deutsch Good is an opportunity to give them an outlet for something very important to them,” Collins explains.

So who exactly is benefitting from all this altruism? The environment, homeless youth and school children in need, just to name a few.

For Earth Day, a team of “Deutschers” donned plastic gloves and cleaned up the beach in Santa Monica.

Before that, they gave a makeover to the new the homeless youth drop-in center in Venice, operated by local nonprofit Safe Place for Youth.

“The building was very plain looking,” says Khouri, “so we made it look more alive by painting murals on four walls. We did all the planning at the agency beforehand, involving our Target team and their art directors. We also spent time talking with the homeless youth and brainstormed ideas with them.”

For Khouri, volunteering with the homeless kids was an eye-opening experience: “Sometimes I couldn’t tell who was youth just there to volunteer and who was youth that was actually homeless. It made me really think about the people walking down the street around Venice. Sometimes, you can’t tell they are homeless.”

But the experience that impacted Khouri most came when Deutsch Good wanted to help foster kids.

“Most of these kids, when they go into the foster home they just get a trash bag to put all their stuff in. We purchased duffle bags and decorated them, then we wrote handwritten notes to each recipient. The duffle bag also comes with a blanket, books and other things we put in there,” she says.

Inspired by the duffle event, many people at Deutsch revealed to Khouri that either they were adopted or that they had adopted a child. This is just one of the ways Khouri thinks Deutsch Good can bring the agency together.

And it’s not just people and the environment benefiting from Deutsch Good.

“I’m a sucker for dogs,” says Khouri, who, last December, coordinated an event called “Santa’s Good Shop.” Not only did it benefit children who needed books, there was also a canine component. “We worked with Kombucha Dog, a company that puts photos of shelter dogs on their bottle labels to encourage people to rescue a dog. They brought in a shelter partner, and they brought five dogs who needed to be adopted.”

One of the dogs had been severely abused and had grim prospects. Much to Khouri’s delight, the dog was adopted by a friend of a Deutsch employee.

Khouri says her time at Deutsch has been a tremendous growth experience.

“To go from knowing nothing about advertising to running this initiative — it’s been pretty awesome.”

A version of this story appeared in the June/July issue of Playa Vista Direct, a sister publication of The Argonaut. Explore a digital version of the publication at playavistadirect.com.

Despite Vista Del Mar reversal, residents sue the city and neighborhood council calls for restoring lanes

A week after a group of residents made good on their threat to sue the city over traffic lane reductions in Playa del Rey, the Neighborhood Council of Westchester-Playa officially called for restoring Culver and Jefferson boulevards to their former traffic patterns.

On Tuesday the neighborhood council voted 15-2 to ask L.A. City Councilman Mike Bonin in writing that the lanes be restored — the rebuke coming despite Bonin’s intention to form a task force of residents, business owners and other stakeholders to hold public hearings on the lane closures.

The letter’s final draft excluded changes to Pershing Drive after several residents spoke in support of traffic-calming measures on that street, citing safety improvements and less congestion than when the lane reductions fist took effect in May.

At least 150 people turned out for the meeting, 80 of them contributing public comment. More than half the speakers opposed the lane reductions, many of them complaining about traffic congestion and negative impacts on local businesses.

“In the history of our neighborhood council, no single issue has energized members of our community to become active and involved in such significant numbers. Although perhaps a well-intentioned effort to increase safety, it is impossible to overstate the frustration currently experienced by the majority of residents and stakeholders in Playa del Rey,” reads the letter introduced by council member David Voss.

The city has already reversed highly unpopular lane reductions on Vista Del Mar, striking a deal with L.A. County to move street parking to the beach in order to resolve liability concerns that stemmed from fatal vehicle-pedestrian collisions.

The Safe Streets for Playa del Rey Initiative that impacted Culver, Jefferson and Pershing grew out of local traffic safety concerns.

“This did not come out of left field. This happened with a lot of community input,” Playa del Rey resident Susan Bowling, who participated in several of those discussions, told neighborhood council members during public comment.

Bonin has publicly apologized for inconveniences caused by the Safe Streets for Playa del Rey Initiative and promised regular re-evaluations of the project’s impacts, especially now via the forthcoming neighborhood task force.

But that doesn’t satisfy Keep L.A. Moving, the grassroots committee that filed suit last week alleging the misuse of county Measure M funds to implement traffic calming measures rather than repair streets.

“Measure M was sold to the public as a promise to fix our roads, not make them worse,” Keep L.A. Moving Director Karla Mendelson said.

— Gary Walker

Teen Vogue taps Hillary Clinton and Ava DuVernay to blaze a trail for youth empowerment in Playa Vista

By Christina Campodonico

Teen Vogue Editor-in-Chief Elaine Welteroth paired Hillary Clinton and “Black-ish” star Yara Shahidi for a conversation about empowering young women
Photos by Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for Teen Vogue

Can fashion and politics coexist on a glossy teen magazine platform?

It was a foreign concept in legacy media before Teen Vogue rocked the Twitterverse last December with a bold op-ed on how President-elect Donald Trump was “gaslighting America.”

A year later, Teen Vogue continues to incisively pair political commentary with fashion-forwardness — (why wouldn’t they?) — and brought that sensibility to its first-ever Teen Vogue Summit, which concluded in Playa Vista on Saturday.

A political thread ran through the day of panels, workshops and keynotes as seamlessly as the flourish of faux white fur that peppered giant bean bags, outdoor lounges and butterfly chairs on 72andSunny’s airy corporate campus.

The morning began with a call to action as “Black-ish” star Yara Shahidi interviewed former presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton. HRC urged a crowd of hundreds — mostly millennial and Gen Z women and girls — to vote in upcoming midterm elections and hold their representatives accountable for their recent actions in Congress.

“This is a burning house,” Clinton said. “Now, hopefully, the fire isn’t that big yet, and there’s still a lot of time to put it out. But it will only be put out by people standing up and claiming their rights, claiming their values again, and voting. In 2018, we have a chance to stop this mean-spirited effort to undermine our rights and set our progress back, but it will only happen if people can get out and vote.”

Clinton also advised young and future voters to not “look for the perfect campaign and the perfect candidate,” she said, “because there’s no such thing as a perfect human being. Look for people who generally agree with you.”

Film director Ava DuVernay encouraged young women to earn the respect of potential mentors

Later in the day Rep. Maxine Waters, whose district includes Playa del Rey and Westchester, did not disappoint the young progressives who’ve taken to calling
the outspoken Trump critic “Auntie Maxine.” She led the crowd in chanting “Impeach 45” after an eviscerating condemnation: “Donald Trump does not deserve to be president of the United States of America. … This man is deplorable and he’s dangerous. You cannot depend on anything he says.”

But it was 14-year-old actress Storm Reid, the star of the much-anticipated spring film “A Wrinkle in Time,” who made perhaps the most profound if not out-rightly political statement of the day.

“I have a really strong belief that we have the ‘IT’ in the book and the movie, and then we have an ‘IT’ right now, in our world,” said Reid, referencing the evil villain of the novel and film and perhaps some contemporary force. “In order for real change we all have to come together and be one to basically save the universe, because it’s ugly right now. It’s real ugly.”

When politics took a back seat, the gathering was buoyed by attendees’ eagerness to connect with each other and learn from the summit’s speakers, workshop leaders and panelists — among them YouTube entertainer Lilly Singh, who participated in a panel on content creation,  and ground-breaking film director Ava DuVernay. She spoke about “A Wrinkle in Time” with Reid and co-star Rowan Blanchard as well as mentoring women and people of color in the film industry.

“It’s important that we pass the knowledge along, pass the love along, and pass along the idea that we could lead in any moment,” said DuVernay.

Between keynotes, stylishly-dressed teens and twentysomethings, even thirthysomethings and moms accompanying their preteen daughters — many sporting white PB Teen backpacks stuffed with swag — excitedly shuffled between panels on building a beauty empire to workshops on combatting sexual assault, like students dashing between classes.

“I really wanted to come today because I wanted to learn as much as I could,” said 21-year-old Maliyah Mason, a senior at Cal State Long Beach who also holds the title of Miss Compton 2017. “I wanted to get new ideas on how I could grow and develop as a person. … I’m just so happy that this is a new event, where people from across the country can come together and can talk to like-minded people and get new ideas on how they’re going to be innovators and activists and trailblazers.”

Mom and startup founder Carole Hamm, who flew in from Maine, was excited to expose her 12-year-old daughter to the conference’s unique opportunities, even its serious topics.

“I want her to start learning early how to find her way and navigate these issues [of being a woman] and help her come out a stronger young lady,” said Hamm. “I kind of look to Teen Vogue for some of that guidance.”

But the day wasn’t all lectures in real world subjects. You could bedazzle
a Juicy Couture jacket at one station, or chat with a “mentor” like TOMS Shoes founder Blake Mycoskie at another. Stars like singing-songwriting sister duo Aly and AJ paused to take selfies with fans in the hallways of 72andSunny.  And Coolhaus ice cream sandwiches circulated on platters during the afternoon.

The night capped off with a guided meditation by “Hunger Games” actress Amandla Stenberg and a performance showcase featuring singer-songwriting duo Alex Belle and Isis V., among other artists.

Admission to the summit was pricy: $299 for Friday’s professional development “@Werk Immersions” at various L.A. tech and media companies, $399 for Saturday’s summit, or $549 for a two-day pass. At least 50 participants attended on scholarship.

But most of the attendees I spoke with walked away inspired — pleased with their investment — even if there weren’t enough sandwiches to go around at lunchtime.

“I really just thought of Teen Vogue as a magazine,” reflected Loyola Marymount University senior Tallie Spencer. “I think this is going to change the world of journalism and magazines and news a little bit, because it’s going to inspire people to be their own brands and make a difference and make their ideas into a reality.”

“It’s encouraging,” added 33-year-old activist, artist and attorney Mary David. “I think a lot of times for older generations, there is this fear of younger generations being so obsessed with social media and so focused on self. What this event has done for me is show me that there are so many [young people] out there who are just brilliant and have the most beautiful mindset.”

A clogged storm drain caused flooding in Playa del Rey
Screenshot via KCAL 9

The first rains of 2018 brought flooding to low-lying coastal areas of Playa del Rey streets on Monday and Tuesday, with water pooling at Culver Boulevard and Trolleyway as county workers deployed pumps and hurried to unblock a clogged storm drain.

Los Angeles County Department of Public Works spokesman Steven Frasher said it appears shifting ocean currents pushed sand into a 72-inch concrete reinforced pipe at the end of Culver, causing the blockage.

The pumps could be in place for a couple of days before all the water has been removed from the intersection, Frasher said Tuesday.

“We have a system that works most of the time. When the storm came along it didn’t work as it should have,” Frasher acknowledged. “We didn’t anticipate any kind of blockage.”

One longtime resident said storm-related flooding has occurred at least a half a dozen times in recent years, especially in the oceanfront neighborhood known as The Jungle.

“We had a couple of feet of water in our garage. The county just totally screws up once in a while,” said homeowner Vance Griffith, who has lived at Trolleyway and Culver for 35 years.

“Solutions are actively being worked on” to avoid further blockages, Frasher said.

Today is World Oceans Day, an occasion to reflect on how we can help to restore and protect these life-giving bodies of water that impact all life on Earth.

On May 24, students at Citizens of the World Charter School in Mar Vista joined some 4,500 area students at Dockweiler Beach in Playa del Rey for the 25th annual Kids Ocean Day beach cleanup.

Citizens of the World fifth-grader Emmett Kliger won the event’s annual poetry contest and read aloud during the event:

“Roses are red, oceans are blue, but that can’t happen without the help of you.

“The ocean has trash, but that can be fixed. We really should be mindful of it.

“When all is said and done, the fight to clean trash has just begun.”

Emmett’s mother Sydnie said the Kids Ocean Day contest has given her son a new outlook on citizen activism.

“He jumped into something that was very new to him, and now he’s found a real passion to make a difference in the world,” she said. “I think his generation is walking into a world where they see that it’s not perfect, and they realize that for their future in order to make it better they have to jump in.”

Since 1993, the Malibu Foundation has coordinated Kids Ocean Day in the Los Angeles region by organizing the beach cleanup and giving presentations at area schools.

After the cleanup students stood in formation in the shape of a huge wave, photographed by helicopter to send a visual message of concern about the ocean.

“Young people are the wave of the future. And this program is teaching us that the ocean has limits, and we need to protect those limits,” said California Coastal Commission Vice Chair Effie Turnbull-Sanders.

— Gary Walker

The Venice Dual Force Main Project cuts across Marina del Rey Harbor between a city pumping station and the Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant in Playa del Rey

Tunneling and trench work to replace an aging sewer line that runs under Via Marina began last weekend near Marquesas Way, temporarily reducing traffic flow to a single lane in the immediate work area.

The Venice Dual Force Main Project connects the city’s Venice Pumping Plant on Hurricane Avenue to the Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant in Playa del Rey, replacing an existing line that sanitation officials say is more than 50 years old and at severe risk of rupture.

“We expect tunneling activities to occur for several months in the marina,” said Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation Engineer Gevork Mkrtchyan, construction manager for the sewer project.

Work has already been under way near The Jungle neighborhood of lower Playa del Rey, where residents have complained about lane closures on Culver Boulevard, Pacific Avenue and Trolleyway causing potentially dangerous conditions for drivers and pedestrians.

“With summer bringing more people, strollers, children and bicycles, this intersection must be monitored by police who can enforce illegal stops, illegal U-turns and illegal three point turns,” reads an email complaint by neighborhood activist Jan Hagaan.

Bureau of Sanitation officials deny that their work is putting anyone at risk.

“We have no knowledge of anything at that intersection causing life-threatening situations,” Mkrtchyan said. “We have designated U-turns on Pacific Avenue and soon we’ll be adding more signage in The Jungle to guide motorists in the right direction so they’ll know where construction is taking place.”     

— Gary Walker

The Playa Vista location of Hal’s Bar & Grill was the place to be during Runway’s 2017 night market event, photographed by VenicePaparazzi.com

The iconic Hal’s Bar & Grill has gone out of business, shuttering its locations in Playa Vista and Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice this morning.

Notes on the doors of both restaurants state that the business in liquidating and instruct employees to meet in Playa Vista this afternoon to settle final paychecks. The mood inside the building was a mix of shock and sadness, as the surprise closure comes about a month after the restaurant hired a new executive chef and rebooted its dinner menu. The restaurant’s owners could not be immediately reached for comment.

Hal’s original Abbot Kinney location of 30 years closed in April 2015 when its landlord sold that building for $44 million. A more compact version of Hal’s and sister restaurant Casa Linda (now also shuttered) later reopened down the street in the former home of Primitivo. In 2017, owners Don Novack, Linda Novack and Hal Frederick opened a gorgeous new flagship restaurant inside the now-struggling Runway at Playa Vista retail, entertainment and residential complex.

Argonaut food writer and Venice native Jessica Koslow recently wrote a tribute to Hal’s Bar & Grill on the occasion of its new menu.

— Joe Piasecki

Closures mark the end of an era in Venice and curtail a comeback story in Playa Vista

By Joe Piasecki, Jessica Koslow and Gary Walker

Event photographers Venice Paparazzi captured the Playa Vista location of Hal’s Bar & Grill packed with diners during a 2017 Runway Night Market event

A Westside cultural institution for more than three decades, Hal’s Bar & Grill anchored the renaissance of Abbot Kinney Boulevard and pioneered a flagship presence in the growing community of Playa Vista. The restaurant, bar and live jazz venue didn’t just roll with the changes, it played a leading role in preserving a sense of local identity among the growing presence of national chain stores.

That legacy appears to be a historical one now. Late last Thursday, notes appeared on the doors of both its Venice and Playa Vista locations stating that the business will be liquidating and instructing employees to meet in Playa Vista to settle final paychecks. The mood there appeared to be a mix of shock and sadness, and owners of the business could not be reached for comment.

Hal’s original Abbot Kinney location of 30 years closed in April 2015 when its landlord sold that building (now home to a flagship Adidas store) for a reported $44 million. A more compact version of Hal’s and sister restaurant Casa Linda (also shuttered) later opened down the street in the former home of Primitivo.

Meanwhile, Hal’s Bar & Grill owners Don Novack, Linda Novack and Hal Frederick staked the restaurant’s future on the Runway at Playa Vista retail, entertainment and residential complex. In the spring of 2017, after an extended period of construction, Hal’s opened a gorgeous new flagship restaurant at Runway, which is due for a more pedestrian-centric remodel this year while struggling to lease many of its retail storefronts.

About a month ago, Hal’s Bar & Grill celebrated the hiring of a new executive chef and updated its dinner menu. News of its closure has left many longtime locals feeling shocked and upset.

“Hal’s was Venice’s city hall at lunchtime. People came to eat, conduct business, see and be seen,” said former Venice Neighborhood Council President Linda Lucks. “My favorite times were just sitting with Hal and listening to his stories about his early acting career and hanging out with James Baldwin in Paris.”

“I was just in Venice and passed by the old Hal’s and my heart was full and sad because not only has change come, but the energy of the entire block was different,” said Venice native Jewel Delegall, whose jazz musician husband gigged at Hal’s. “As things changed in Venice, Hal’s was the one place I could go back to that felt like old Venice. It had a special energy. Where will we go to feel that same sense of home?”

ABC 7 captured video of the car colliding with the scooter. Scroll down to view.

By Gary Walker
A multi-city car chase that crossed three counties and saw the driver slam into a man riding a Bird scooter in Playa del Rey before leading police on a mad dash through Orange County ended hours later with an afternoon arrest in San Diego County.

The pursuit began in Culver City after police officers tried to pull over a red Honda Accord just before 11:30 a.m. at Washington Boulevard. The suspect then sped away, racing through surface streets and crisscrossing Westside communities of Westchester and Playa del Rey as Culver City police notified LAPD Pacific Division officers that the suspect was in their jurisdiction.

It was initially thought that Culver City officers suspected that the vehicle was stolen but that was not confirmed.

The Honda struck the scooter rider as it fled down the 7800 block Manchester Avenue near Saran Drive in Playa del Rey. Firefighters responded to the collision and transported an unidentified man to a local hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening.

The LAPD helicopter deployed a helicopter to join chase near Playa Vista.

Capt. James Setzer of Pacific Division said the driver was able to elude the officers’ detention maneuvers that police employ to contain fleeing cars.

“LAPD made several attempts to ‘PIT’ (Pursuit Intervention Technique) the suspect, but he outmaneuvered our units. Ultimately, he made it to the freeway and the CHP took over the pursuit,” Setzer said.

Two such maneuvers were attempted on Westchester Parkway and La Tijera Boulevard. The driver evaded them after losing his rear bumper and racing away from the containment attempt at high speeds.

The suspect sped onto the 405 Freeway near Marina del Rey heading south, continuing to elude arrest as the chase extended into Orange County and eventually into San Diego County.

After a half-hour standoff near Camp Pendleton, the suspect pulled over to the side of the 5 Freeway and surrendered. California Highway Patrol officers swarmed the suspect and took him into custody.

ABC 7 POSTED THIS VIDEO OF THE SCOOTER RIDER BEING STRUCK, WHICH MAY BE DISTURBING TO SOME VIEWERS:

Police say Santa Monica man was driving drunk when he struck and killed a woman on Pershing Drive, then sped away

By Kellie Chudzinski

Los Angeles police have arrested a Santa Monica man who investigators believe was driving under the influence when he struck and killed a pedestrian in Playa del Rey early this morning and sped away from the scene.

At around 1:15 a.m. Thursday, a 48-year-old woman who has been identified as Patricia A. O’Donnell was struck by a car while she was standing in the street on Pershing Drive between Manchester and Campdell Street, near Tandoor-A-India and Hacienda Playa.

According to police, surveillance camera footage shows O’Donnell exiting the nearby laundromat with a friend, retrieving a skateboard and headlamp from her parked SUV, and then skating around the parking lot before moving out into the street.

The driver who struck O’Donnell did not stop after colliding with her and continued north toward Culver Boulevard. Police identified the vehicle as an Audi A5 and later arrested Patrick Finkelstein in nearby Santa Monica. Finkelstein is being held on $100,000 bail for suspicion of vehicular manslaughter while driving under the influence.

O’Donnell was pronounced dead at the scene by and later identified by the Los Angeles County Coroner’s office. Part of Pershing Drivewas blocked off by investigators for several hours but opened before the morning rush-hour commute.

Since Finkelstein fled the scene and did not attend to or aid the victim, the incident became a felony hit-and-run. The crime is punishable by up to three years in prison and a $10,000 fine. 

LAPD Capt. Brian Wendling told CBSLA this morning that hit-and-run crashes have become unfortunately common in Los Angeles. “Stop. Identify yourself. If you get involved in a traffic collision, don’t make it a felony crime,” Wendling said. “Just stop, come forward and be part of the solution, not part of the problem.”