Long Beach Police Department officers surrounded a portion of a neighborhood just north of Bixby Knolls Thursday while they tried to arrest a suspect who fled from a stolen vehicle, according to the department.

Police said the situation started around 11:12 a.m. when officers tried to pull over the stolen car on 49th Street just east of Long Beach Boulevard.

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The driver ran, and officers quickly set up a perimeter to try to keep him or her from escaping, LBPD spokesperson Alyssa Baeza said.

Police called in SWAT officers to help, and a helicopter could be seen circling overhead.

SWAT officers carry a protective shield at a crime scene where a driver ran from a stolen vehicle on Thursday, April 25, 2024. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.

Baeza said it was unknown if the suspect was armed. Police had an apartment building in the area surrounded, but it’s unclear if they thought the suspect was inside.

SWAT officers eventually concluded their search without finding the driver, police said Thursday evening.

A passenger who was in the stolen vehicle, however, was taken into custody, Baeza said.

 

Jeremiah Dobruck is executive editor of the Long Beach Post where he oversees all day-to-day newsroom operations. In his time working as a journalist in Long Beach, he’s won numerous awards for his investigative reporting and editing. Before coming to the Post in 2018, he wrote for publications including the Press-Telegram, Orange County Register and Los Angeles Times. Reach him at [email protected] or @jeremiahdobruck on Twitter.