Man Arrested at Gunpoint in Brentwood for Driving Stolen Vehicle

A Westside resident had some bad luck Saturday, July 20 in Brentwood after getting pursued by Los Angeles police and arrested at gunpoint for driving a vehicle marked stolen.

The irony? It was the man's vehicle. He just failed to tell police he recovered it on his own.

West L.A. Division Senior Lead Officer Christopher Ragsdale tells Patch officers ran a license plate to a vehicle that came back stolen on Saturday, July 20 between 1 and 2 p.m., and began a pursuit.

"Nonetheless, it's always a high risk stop that takes place," he said.

Whenever LAPD comes across a vehicle marked stolen, the tactical approach is to put in a call for back-up and a request for a helicopter before even getting out of the patrol car, Ragsdale said.

"In many cases, people steal cars [to be used] for other crimes," he noted.

The pursuit was about a half-mile to a mile in radius that ended at the intersection of San Vicente Boulevard and Gorham Avenue in front of Peet's Coffee & Tea.

Several units stopped the man and ordered him at gunpoint to get out of the vehicle. Onlookers sent in photos to Brentwood Patch.

"This was a unique scenario where the registered owner had reported the vehicle stolen," Ragsdale said. "Apparently he found and recovered the vehicle himself but failed to let LAPD know it was recovered. So it was still in the system."

The man was cleared and released, Ragsdale added.

Stolen vehicles go into a database with the Department of Justice and if a license plate number is run, it'll come back as stolen.

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