In Gardena, a woman was taken into custody after reportedly assaulting a firefighter from Los Angeles County and subsequently colliding with an undercover police car.
According to the Gardena Police Department, officers responded to a report of a physical altercation involving personnel from the Los Angeles County Fire Department at around 1 p.m. on Wednesday. The incident took place on the 2600 block of Manhattan Beach Boulevard, located between Crenshaw Boulevard and Van Ness Avenue.
A video posted by ABC7 captures a woman repeatedly hitting a member of the county fire department through the window of his truck.
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The firefighter walked alongside the woman as they crossed the median towards her car, which was causing traffic congestion. He informed her that they had called 911. Surprisingly, instead of staying put, the woman got back into her vehicle, circled the block twice, and came back to the same spot.
In the aftermath, she collided with both the fire truck and an undercover L.A. police car, managing to tear off one of the truck’s tires in the process.
A wild scene in Gardena as a woman is caught on camera attacking local firefighters before fleeing in her car and leading police on a brief pursuit, crashing into an undercover cop car. Just what set the woman off? Tonight at 11 from ABC7. pic.twitter.com/3FHK1WokbW— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) August 22, 2024
The suspect in the case was identified as Jessica Chavez, a 36-year-old resident of Inglewood.
Frank Rojas, who was present at the scene, captured the chaos on video. “We had a front-row view and could witness everything,” Rojas shared with ABC7.
“I couldn’t believe it when she started driving away. I thought that would be the end of it,” he reminisced. “I expected maybe a police chase or something to happen after that, but to my surprise, she actually turned around and intentionally hit the car again.”
Chavez faced a range of charges, including assaulting a firefighter/EMT, assault with a deadly weapon, and driving under the influence (DUI).
