A suspected murderer taken into custody after a multi-neighborhood police chase left residents shaken Thursday night and reignited debates over pursuit policies and community safety across Los Angeles.

LAPD officials said officers followed the suspect after identifying him in connection with a recent homicide. The pursuit moved from arterial streets into freeway traffic and back into dense residential blocks, police said. It ended when the suspect’s vehicle collided with a parked car and a light pole in a South Los Angeles neighborhood; officers detained him at the scene. CBS News first reported the sequence of events as the chase unfolded and included video captured by witnesses.

An LAPD spokesperson said in a written statement that the department “acted to apprehend a suspect believed responsible for a violent crime,” and that officers employed tactics intended to minimize danger. “We regret the impact on residents and are reviewing the incident to ensure our actions complied with policy,” the statement said. Police reported no deaths at the scene; at least two people were treated by paramedics for non-life-threatening injuries, and several vehicles were damaged, authorities said.

Neighbors described a chaotic tableau: screeching tires, air horns, and the thud of the final collision. “We heard the crash and ran outside. My daughter was terrified,” said Maria Lopez, who has lived in the block for 12 years. “This could have been a tragedy. It feels like our neighborhood is a battlefield sometimes.”

Public health experts say that episodes like this have effects that extend beyond physical injuries. “High-speed pursuits produce acute risks of collision and long-term consequences for community mental health,” said Dr. Anita Sharma, an emergency medicine and public-health researcher at the University of California. “They pull emergency responders away from other priorities, increase strain on trauma services, and contribute to cumulative trauma in neighborhoods that already face disparities in health care access.”

Policy advocates noted the racial and socioeconomic dimensions of those cumulative harms. Civil-rights groups have pointed for years to data showing that police chases more frequently traverse low-income and majority-Black and Latino neighborhoods, concentrating risk on communities already burdened by violence and limited health infrastructure. “When pursuit policies are applied in ways that expose the most vulnerable neighborhoods to danger, that raises questions of equity and accountability,” said an attorney with the ACLU of Southern California.

Police pursuit policies have been tightened in many jurisdictions in recent years, limiting chases to suspects posing an imminent threat of serious violence. Still, departments also stress the need to apprehend people accused of violent crimes rapidly. Alternatives to high-speed chases — from spike strips and tactical roadblocks to GPS tagging and coordinated air support — carry their own risks and costs and require resources that are unevenly distributed across municipalities.

City officials said the LAPD will conduct a formal review of the incident, as is standard. Councilmember Monica Reyes called for transparency and community input, urging the department to release body-camera and dash-camera footage and to consider non-pursuit strategies where feasible. “We must hold offenders accountable,” Reyes said in a statement, “but not by putting our neighbors at unacceptable risk.”

As investigators and public-health officials tally the tangible and psychological toll of the chase, residents on the block say they want both safer streets and a promise that policing tactics will not make their daily lives more dangerous. The debate over how to balance those needs — accountability, public safety, and equity — is likely to continue in city hall and the neighborhoods most affected.