“Oh, come on guys — he’s right there!”
That’s what a traffic reporter in a helicopter exclaimed Friday as he watched Los Angeles police officers run past a suspect hidden behind a blue car parked in an alley.
At least six Los Angeles police officers initially failed to spot the suspect who first crouched behind the vehicle and then laid on his stomach a few feet from them.
Aerial footage captured the officers blow past the suspect in one direction, return — some in a sprint — and zip by the suspect again.
Los Angeles police did not respond to requests for comment Friday regarding the circumstances that preceded the video.
The incident was broadcast on Fox’s KTTV. Someone in the helicopter reported the action and did not hold back.
A representative from the TV station declined to comment Friday.
“You can see it right there, the suspect trying to get into somebody’s property, trying to hide. But doing a very, very poor job of it,” the person in the helicopter said.
That’s when the patrol vehicles flooded the scene.
“LAPD coming to a stop. Oh, come on guys, he’s right there! … The officers running right by him. They are going right by him.”
The suspect eluded police for about a minute before an officer briefly peered under the blue vehicle and walked around it. Police spotted the alleged perpetrator who was then surrounded by four officers.
The abrupt ending prompted the reporter to bellow with laughter.
“It got a little tense there, at the end,” the reporter said.
A reporter in the studio replied: “It was tense, indeed. If you could hear the newsroom exploding.”
KTTV reported the incident began about 8 a.m. Friday after police responded to a report of a stolen vehicle. The reporter in the helicopter was identified as Stu Mundel.
The news outlet reported that prior to hiding behind the vehicle, the suspect made contact with at least three vehicles and collided with a fourth at a busy intersection.
The suspect then exited the vehicle and ran into a nearby alleyway, where police caught up with him shortly after, KTTV said.