A stolen hearse with the body of a woman inside, was stolen outside of a Pasadena church last night. A police pursuit was initiated and ended in a wreck during rush hour Thursday morning on the 110 Freeway in South Los Angeles.
An L.A. County Sheriff’s official confirmed that the crashed 2017 Lincoln Navigator was the same one which was stolen in Pasadena on Wednesday evening. The body was still inside the casket.
CBS Los Angeles reports:
The short pursuit started at 7:43 a.m. near USC, at Exposition Boulevard and Figueroa Street, when someone spotted the stolen Navigator and called 911. Responding Los Angeles police officers gave chase. The pursuit ended within about a minute when the Navigator crashed on the southbound 110 Freeway near the Vernon Avenue exit.
Sky2 footage showed officers surrounding the hearse, which had significant front-end damage. A suspect was taken into custody.
It’s unclear how many vehicles were involved in the wreck. At least one person was taken to a hospital, police said.
The Navigator was towed away with the body in the casket still inside. When it arrived at the tow yard, the casket was moved to a different vehicle.
On Wednesday night, the Lincoln Navigator was stolen from out in front of St. Anthony’s Greek Orthodox Church in unincorporated Pasadena. A casket holding a woman’s body was inside the vehicle at the time of the theft.
Meanwhile, all southbound lanes on the 110 Freeway were shut down for a short time, but have since reopened.
Still no word on why the suspect decided to steal a hearse. At this time, there has been no connection to the suspect and the body of the woman inside.
