A police chase that began with a couple calling in a fake carjacking to police ended with them arrested and a woman and an 8-year-old child critically injured.
Police got the call just before 7 p.m. that a woman was carjacked at the West Covina Mall, according to ABC 7.
Officers quickly spotted the 2015 Toyota Corolla described in the 911 call and attempted to pull it over – but the driver refused.
A few minutes later, the Corolla crashed into another vehicle. A woman and an 8-year-old child in the other vehicle were critically injured in the crash and taken to a nearby hospital.
The passenger in the car tried to flee on foot, but he was quickly stopped by a K-9 unit – which was caught on video:
On video: West Covina carjack suspect chomped by police K-9. (courtesy Christopher Morales) https://t.co/8VGFSo05ZZhttps://t.co/MIr4bbgV30
— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) May 28, 2016
The female driver of the car was also arrested.
Police quickly realized that the couple had called in the 911 call about the carjacking themselves. The pair were involved in some sort of altercation at the mall earlier in the day and escorted out by security. They then, for some reason, called in the carjacking describing themselves and their own car.
Police speculate it was a diversionary tactic gone wrong.
“It’s possible that they thought there were in trouble for something that occurred at the mall,” West Covina Police Department Lt. Travis Tibbetts told ABC 7. “And they were trying to divert police attention so they could get away from the area. For some reason they decided to report a carjacking, describing their own car and themselves as the suspects.”
