California Cop Flees Street Takeover As Shots Ring Out

A video showing a California Highway Patrol car flee a street takeover in Southern California as shots ring out has people confused. After all, they’re wondering why the cop doesn’t arrest whoever is shooting, or if the police cruiser was shot and maybe that’s why the cop took off.

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The street takeover event happened in the early morning hours of February 17 in Compton. The area is often used for the illegal gatherings.

Shootings at street takeovers are shockingly common, especially lately. It’s one of the reasons more and more people are viewing the illegal gatherings as more than just innocent fun being had by bored kids.

But to see a member of CHP flee as people walk up to his car, filming with their phones, and gunfire erupts seems counterintuitive. However, local station KTLA 5 spoke with CHP about the incident.

The state law enforcement agency calls the video “misleading.” It clarified the sergeant who happened to witness the street takeover and stopped momentarily wasn’t shot at. It also indicated the sergeant heard the gunfire coming from another location not too far from the takeover, but not from the event itself.

As for why the CHP sergeant fled, that apparently was a tactic to not escalate the situation. With people approaching his cruiser while filming using their phones, he apparently felt things could spin out of control.

But that doesn’t answer every question being asked. We have a few ourselves, although we know some of the answers already. One is why didn’t CHP return in force to shut down the street takeover?

You could ask why cops in California don’t do more about street takeovers in general? The answer has in part to do with the laws in the state and how prosecutors handle those cases. With a lack of many consequences for participants, it hardly seems worth the effort.

As for the shooting, we have no idea if police figured out who did it and if there was a victim.

Image via KTLA 5/YouTube