Local Glendale Hit-and-Run Escalates Into High-Speed Chase, Multi-Vehicle Crash

May 25, 2021

A Monday afternoon trip to Trader Joe’s unexpectedly turned into a high-speed chase for a local woman after her car was hit at an intersection and the other driver failed to pull over. After exiting the parking lot and proceeding through the green light, a Jaguar running the red light struck the woman’s vehicle. When it became apparent that the Jaguar driver would not pull over, the woman (whose identity will remain anonymous) proceeded to follow the vehicle.

The hit-and-run accident had only caused minor damage to the woman’s car, but as she continued to follow the Jaguar, the man driving the vehicle increased his speed considerably. A high-speed chase ensued Northbound up Isabel Street from Dryden Street through the neighborhood of North Glendale.

As the Jaguar continued at high-speed down Isabel Street, the driver eventually lost control of the vehicle, striking a parked car. The parked Toyota Prius was hit at such speed by the Jaguar that the force sent the vehicle colliding into a Mercedes parked directly behind. The Jaguar and the two parked vehicles sustained considerable damage.

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A local resident captured photographs of the accident scene:

Both vehicles damaged by the Jaguar reportedly belong to a local family.

The woman who followed the perpetrator in the Jaguar was reportedly six months pregnant. She had been involved in a rear-end accident on a Los Angeles freeway approximately 10 days earlier, and the car she was driving when attempting to track down the hit-and-run perpetrator was a rental.

According to a local Glendale resident who witnessed the accident scene, although the woman did not sustain any physical injuries, she was left visibly shaken by the incident.

“She was very badly shaken up. I was concerned about her having to drive home again. She had called her husband while we were waiting for the police to arrive … She eventually told me that she was fine. I wanted to make sure of that before I left the scene,” William Metzdorf said.

Metzdorf lives just a short distance from where the accident occurred at the 1100 block of North Isabel Street. He says that he heard the crash while upstairs in his home, and the impact was so loud that he dashed to the window to see what had happened.

From his vantage point, Metzdorf could see a cloud of dust that had emanated from the vehicles after impact. He also witnessed the parked cars “being moved around” as the Jaguar driver continued maneuvering in the moments after the crash.

Although Metzdorf did not witness the actual point of impact, he noted that the extent of damage to the vehicles appeared to indicate the Jaguar driver was traveling at a dangerously high rate of speed.

“He must have been driving extremely fast in order to do the damage that he did,” Metzdorf said.

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Metzdorf immediately ran to the accident scene where he saw the Jaguar driver bleeding from his forehead. The police were called, and a local EMT team arrived on the scene to attend to the Jaguar driver’s injuries. The driver of the Jaguar, an unidentified Glendale resident, was eventually taken to the hospital.

A police report has yet to be made available to the public, and there is currently no word regarding what charges the driver of the Jaguar may be facing.

As for the woman who pursued the perpetrator, Metzdorf noted that perhaps the rear-end accident she experienced days earlier could have inspired her to track down the Jaguar driver and ensure he did not evade justice. That said, it’s important to note that if a driver who causes an accident does flee the scene, chasing after the suspect is not recommended.

Dordulian Law Group will update this story as more information becomes available.

Updated: 05-26-2021