Police Car

Two suspects rammed a police car Friday, allegedly in an attempt to escape arrest, but were later caught by scent-tracking dogs, authorities said. As Los Angeles police officers were responding to an early morning brawl at Sepulveda Boulevard and Haynes Street in Van Nuys, the suspects crashed into the patrol car and made a break for it. No one was injured, and the suspects, whose names were not released, were quickly caught and arrested.

A police car was firebombed in the central English town of Wolverhampton on Tuesday after officers were lured into an ambush by false emergency calls, police said. The officers were not injured. The incident followed the death of a young black man in the town last month while police were trying to arrest him. The death of Clinton McCurbin, 24, led to a weekend of street violence in Wolverhampton, and police said tension is still high in the area.

Like so many errant parachute jumps, the trip down was fine, but the landing ended badly. About 2 a.m. Tuesday, police said, Robert Tompkins leaped from the roof of a 37-story building in the 1100 block of Wilshire Boulevard. His parachute opened on cue, and he floated gently down. But he landed on top of a police car. Tompkins, 29, was promptly arrested and booked on suspicion of trespassing. The police were there because Tompkins apparently tripped an alarm while on the roof.

A car traveling 55 m.p.h. hit a police patrol car in Sunland on Wednesday night, resulting in the brief hospitalization of two police officers and three women. Los Angeles Police Officer Joseph Napolitano, who was driving the police car, and Officer Ron Calhoun were treated for minor injuries at area hospitals after they were rear-ended by a 1986 Subaru driven by Christina Schirmeister, 20, of Burbank. Schirmeister and her two passengers were also treated for minor injuries and released.

A suspected drunk motorcyclist left an Oxnard bar after it closed, became impatient at a red light, ran the light and collided with a Port Hueneme police cruiser early Thursday morning, police said. Jeanmarc Pena, 39, of Oxnard, left the Sea Rounders bar shortly after 2 a.m. and stopped briefly on Ventura Road at Channel Islands Boulevard.

A motorcyclist who ran a red light and collided with a police cruiser this month died Thursday night at St. John's Regional Medical Center in Oxnard. Jean Marc Pena, 39, left the Sea Rounders bar shortly after 2 a.m. on Dec. 7 and stopped briefly on Ventura Road at Channel Islands Boulevard. Witnesses said Pena became impatient with the red light, accelerated through the intersection and was struck by a police car. Coroner's investigator Dale Zentzis said head trauma was the cause of death.

A suspected drunk driver hit the wrong car early Sunday when he smashed his pickup truck into an LAPD patrol car in Panorama City, police said. The incident occurred about 1:50 a.m., when two officers from the Devonshire Division pulled over a car carrying five youths near Roscoe Boulevard and Lennox Avenue, said Officer Robert Kalstrom of the Valley Traffic Division. As the officers got out of their car, another vehicle was approaching from behind, said Kalstrom.

A motorist who apparently wandered onto the Santa Monica Freeway after a traffic accident early Saturday was struck and killed by an unmarked Los Angeles police car whose occupants were heading to Century City to provide security for visiting Hungarian Prime Minister Jozsef Antall. John Bewick, 35, of Los Angeles was killed. Authorities said the accident occurred about 5 a.m. on the westbound side of the freeway near Fairfax Avenue.

The Police Department could save $3 million annually by installing video cameras in every police car to record civilian contacts instead of having officers write and read field data reports, Police Chief William J. Bratton said in a report Friday. In arguing that such cameras are cost-effective, Bratton said they would also make it easier to resolve complaints of officer misconduct and would cut down on investigative costs. The city has applied for a grant to install the cameras.

Three people were injured Tuesday when a Los Alamitos police car transporting a prisoner to Orange County Jail collided with a convertible, authorities said. The accident between the Ford Crown Victoria patrol car and a Mazda Miata took place at 11:30 a.m. at Bristol and Hesperian streets in Santa Ana, said Angel Johnson, spokeswoman for the California Highway Patrol.