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Ciro Cesar / La Opinion / Impremedia
Rush hour traffic in southern Los Angeles became particularly tiring on Thursday morning when Los Angeles Police (LAPD) units chased a hearse carrying a coffin and a corpse inside that had been stolen from the front from a church on Wednesday night, CBS 2 reported.
The chase began at 7:43 am near USC, on Exposition Boulevard and Figueroa Street, when a witness reported seeing the 2017 Lincoln Navigator that had been stolen the night before from the Greek Orthodox church of San Antonio in Pasadena, carrying a coffin with a woman's body inside.
The chase ended about a minute later, when the fleeing vehicle crashed into an unidentified object on Highway 110 south, near the Vernon Avenue exit.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) confirmed that a suspect was arrested and that at least one person was taken to the hospital.
The front of the hearse was crushed in the accident, and police reported that other vehicles were involved in the accident.
"Huge THANKS to the good Samaritan who called the police when they saw the stolen vehicle," the department tweeted. "We also want to send their condolences to the relatives of the deceased, who had to deal with this tragedy."
The recovered Lincoln Navigator was towed with the body in the coffin still inside. When he arrived at the tow yard, The coffin was moved to a different vehicle and transported to a morgue in Arcadia.
A suspect was arrested. He was later identified as James Juarez, 25.
Dave López of CBSLA reported that the theft of the car occurred when the body of the deceased woman was being transported from the company's funeral home in Orange County to its final destination in Arcadia. While on the road, they told the driver that there were flowers in the vehicle that should be left at the San Antonio church in Pasadena.
That's why the driver parked in front of the church, and with the keys still inside, delivered the flowers. When he returned, he discovered that the Lincoln Navigator was gone.
