Helicopters hovered over Westwood for most of the day as a suspected car thief sat on top of a roof for five hours.
A Los Angeles Police Department SWAT vehicle arrived on scene.
[UPDATED at 3:20 p.m.: A man suspected of car theft, who fled from the Los Angeles Police Department and spent about five hours on the roofs of two Westwood Village homes, has been arrested by police. The man, who has not yet been identified, surrendered to police after being hit with multiple bean bag rounds, officials say.
LAPD began pursuing the man through Westwood at around 8 a.m. He was driving a silver Toyota Camry, said LAPD Officer Cleon Joseph. The chase lasted about five minutes and ended at the 800 block of Malcolm Avenue, near Hilgard and Le Conte avenues, Joseph said.]
[UPDATED at 1:25 p.m.: The man then climbed onto a roof of one of the homes, Joseph said. He walked between the roofs of two homes for nearly five hours.
LAPD had the block surrounded, and had SWAT team and rescue vans on the scene. A ladder was also set against one of the homes.
At a little after 1 p.m., police brought the man down from a rooftop and arrested him. The man did not have any weapons on him, officials said.]
A woman that was also in the car was rescued and arrested by the LAPD earlier in the morning, Joseph said.
The car was confirmed stolen, and the man is a parolee, he said.
All residents on the block were evacuated by police. The man had made verbal threats to LAPD throughout the morning, Joseph said.
From behind the police barricade, David Walker, 22, watched the scene unfold. Walker is staying with family friends a few homes down from the house where the man was sitting.
He said he was leaving his house around 8 a.m. when he saw a car on the street with its doors open. Police told him in the morning to leave his house, he said.
“I find it amusing and absurd,” Walker said. “But it’s also disconcerting that a … car thief can just run onto a roof.”
Police had been talking with the man and giving him some time to think, but Joseph said safety was their first priority.
“Time is of the essence,” he said, when the man was still sitting on the roof. “We are trying to get the scene wrapped up as tactfully as possible.”
LAPD will not release the name of the man at this time. He is described as wearing a black or gray sweatshirt, pants and a beanie.
Compiled by Kylie Reynolds, Bruin senior staff.