Video: Car thief falls to his death from a crane after standoff with police

After a wild, high-speed pursuit by the police on Wednesday, a Car Thief climbed a 17-story loading crane in the Port of Los Angeles. After several hours of strange behavior on the ledge of the crane, the car thief, who has since been identified as 23-year-old James Llamas, fell to his death.

Incident started with the theft of an SUV 60 miles away

According to police, the incident started when Llamas stole an SUV from a car dealership in San Bernardino, which reportedly still had a tracking device installed. The Press-Enterprise reports that officers from three police departments were involved in trying to track down the vehicle and make an arrest, but lost sight of the SUV after the car thief swerved across the freeway at speeds of around 90 miles-per-hour.

Car thief drives into the Port of Los Angeles

60 miles away from the car dealership where he made the theft, Llamas, driving the stolen SUV, arrived in the West Basin Container Terminal of the Port of Los Angeles, where he stopped and exited the vehicle. He then scaled what is apparently the tallest crane in that port. The car thief then went on to spend hours on the ledge of the crane, where a SWAT team and crisis negotiators tried to approach the man. KTLA reports Llamas then began dancing, exercising, stretching and performing handstands on the crane, while at some point removing all his clothing as if mocking the police below him.

Thief falls to his death

In the meantime, boat teams were positioned below the crane in case the car thief needed rescuing from the water.

The action drew dozens of onlookers and shut down container terminal operations, while the action was captured live on TV. The standoff ended when Llamas finally plunged to his death from the crane onto a ship below. While he was pronounced dead at the scene, police say it is still unclear whether Llamas fell or deliberately jumped from the crane.

KTLA spoke to Patrick Bates, a crane operator in the port, who passed Llamas while leaving work. Bates told them he knew something bad was going down. Bates said it was unbelievable Llamas was up there, at the height of that crane, and that the man was doing things he couldn’t believe.

The LA Times quotes spokesman Phillip Sanfield of the Port of Los Angeles as saying in a statement that an investigation has been launched into the security breach at the container terminal. Sanfield added that the incident “ended tragically” and that it was not what anyone at the scene wanted to happen.