A standoff on the 91 Freeway in the Compton area was causing massive delays Friday evening.
The situation began around 4 p.m. when a woman reported she’d been kidnapped by a man in a vehicle, according to Long Beach police. When officers tried to stop the vehicle the man was reportedly driving, the driver sped off, starting a pursuit.
The driver then stopped on the on-ramp to the southbound 710 Freeway at Alondra Boulevard, where Long Beach police tried to convince the man to come out of a white van.
Around 6 p.m., though, police backed off and let the man drive away.
Long Beach police said that “the facts revealed that the crime of kidnapping had not occurred.”
Helicopter footage from KTLA showed the van took off around 6 p.m. and headed southbound on the 710 Freeway.
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Footage showed the van with a flat tire sometimes driving on the shoulder. There did not appear to be any police vehicles in pursuit.
The van eventually pulled over to the shoulder on the westbound 91 Freeway, and a few minutes later, CHP officers arrived and again began pursuing the vehicle at slow speeds.
After two PIT maneuvers that caused the vehicle to spin out, CHP officers blocked the van in and were again in a standoff around 6:30 p.m. on the westbound 91 Freeway.
The man was ultimately taken into custody around 8 p.m.
The police activity caused long delays on the 710 and 91 freeways.