Gus Juanillo recorded the mayhem as a man repeatedly smashed the rear of a vehicle at the corner of Alameda and Gage in Huntington, CA.
Hit and run
A man named Gus Juanillo captured some of the mayhem on video and posted it to his YouTube channel. Onlookers were horrified. A woman can be heard screaming as a man repeatedly slams into a vehicle. In what appears to be something out of the "Grand Theft Auto" video game series, the video shows a man repeatedly smashing into the rear of a vehicle. People crowded around the car as the man inside shook his head violently while screaming.
The man's madness appears to be a drug-induced rage. The video ends with the man speeding off down the road after running through a red-light.
The man's vehicular rampage came to a fiery conclusion after ramming into several parked cars. Police took the suspect into custody after they found his vehicle in flames and inoperable. After being taken to a hospital for minor injuries he was booked and will most likely face felony charges. It is also worth noting that the victim in the first video escaped with only minor injuries.
Real-life 'Grand Theft Auto'
It is not yet clear if the operator of the silver sedan was under the influence of drugs when the above video was taken. Los Angeles and the surrounding areas have long had a problem with methamphetamine abuse.
In 2013, Huntington park was the site of a drug bust where detectives discovered a meth lab being run out of a residential home. Despite policing efforts to stop the production and distribution of meth it remains a serious problem in Los Angeles County.
Severe mood swings and fits of rage are common side effects of meth abuse.
Areas with high rates of methamphetamine abuse typically suffer from higher rates of crime such as high rates of robbery and even murder. Addicts are often desperate to do anything for a fix. At a time when many cities around the country are suffering from meth and opioid epidemics, it is unclear what the best course of action is for our government to take.
Mexican drug cartels have long been a thorn in the side of law enforcement, and they show no sign of yielding in terms of the spread of their influence. Earlier this year police seized over 90lbs of meth as far north as Minnesota. Meanwhile, the northeast has been ravaged by potent fentanyl-laced Heroin. Fentanyl makes the heroin much stronger and has been correlated with much higher rates of overdose.
As meth and heroin addiction spreads and communities are torn apart, we may see more instances of hit and run like the one in Huntington.
