LA Lamborghini thief dies in 115 mph crash seconds after fleeing traffic stop
The LAPD released dash and bodycam video of a deadly April encounter with a suspected car thief who sheered a vehicle in half before being ejected in a short but high-speed chase. (Credit: Los Angeles Police Department/YouTube)
Los Angeles police pulled up behind a driver asleep at the wheel of a Lamborghini, discovered the vehicle was stolen and the suspect had outstanding warrants before he sped off on video lost control of the car and died in a high-speed crash just seconds later.
The suspect, 51-year-old Los Angeleno Elliott Dugan, woke up, refused to cooperate with law enforcement, and sped away to his death up the street, body and dashcam videos show.
The incident happened on April 6, but police released the videos Wednesday.
"Do you know why I pulled you over?" an officer asks.
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Elliott Dugan, 51, speaks with an LAPD officer in a bodycam video recorded on April 6, 2024. Moments later, the video shows, Dugan sped away from police. But his escape ended in a fatal crash just blocks away. (Los Angeles Police Department/YouTube)
Dugan says no.
"I pulled right up next to you, I put my spotlight on you, man, you were asleep at the light."
The officer took his identification and paperwork for the car and went to check on them in his patrol vehicle – learning that Dugan had multiple felony warrants and that the car had been reported stolen, police said.
WATCH THE DASHCAM VIDEO:
Suspected Lamborghini thief Elliott Dugan sped away at over 100 mph but crashed within seconds, police said. (Los Angeles Police Department/YouTube)
In a conversation with officers, Dugan denied that the car was stolen and claimed he had rented it. Police asked him repeatedly to get out of the vehicle.
Dugan asserted that he did not have to get out of the car until police gave him a reason why. The officer said he would be detained and asked him several more times to get out.
He hit the gas instead.
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Pursuing officers arrived to find the stolen car split in half. The driver, Elliott Dugan, was ejected and his body flew "several hundred feet" up the road until it landed on a sidewalk, where paramedics pronounced him dead. (Los Angeles Police Department/YouTube)
Just a few blocks away, he crashed into the center median at nearly 115 mph, sheered the car in two and was thrown "several hundred feet" up the street, police said.
Video shows rubble littering the street, with one half of the car in the westbound lane of Sherman Way and the rest on the other side.
After confirming there was no one inside the wrecked vehicle, an officer asked witnesses who had come outside after hearing the noise if they saw anyone fleeing.
The impact split the Lamborghini in two, downed a tree and damaged several parked cars before ejecting the driver, who hurtled "several hundred feet" up the street, police said. (Los Angeles Police Department/YouTube)
They hadn't.
Police found Dugan up the block on a sidewalk after searching the area for several minutes.
He was dead.
A blurred image taken from police bodycam video shows where police found Elliott Dugan after the fatal crash. (Los Angeles Police Department/YouTube)
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The crash damaged multiple parked vehicles and took down a tree, the video shows.
Los Angeles County Jail records show Dugan had been in and out of the facility repeatedly over the last three years and had most recently been released without bond for a misdemeanor charge on Jan. 6.
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