Rolls-Royce Phantom Thief Evades Police In LA With Classic Trick

A stolen Rolls-Royce Phantom stayed true to its name in Los Angeles on Wednesday, when it appeared to vanish into thin air.

The California Highway Patrol caught up with the Rolls on the 210 Freeway in Arcadia after being given tracking information from its owner but backed off after the driver performed several dangerous manoeuvres.

This left the CHP’s helicopter to track the car from a distance, with the LAPD joining the pursuit as the driver peeled off the freeway and into downtown LA. The dangerous driving continued, with the Rolls-Royce seen travelling along the wrong side of the road, nearly hitting another car, coming quite close to some pedestrians and generally not hanging around. Finally, the Phantom was seen ducking into an underground car park near the LA Grand Hotel.

That was the last anyone saw of either the car or the driver. Yep, that tactic of heading into an underground car park, something you might have tried in a game like Grand Theft Auto or (if you can remember that far back) Driver, or perhaps seen in a film, seems to have worked in real life.

According to Fox 11, additional support was called in, including a K9 unit, but at the time of writing, the driver hasn’t been arrested, and nor has the car been found. A near-six-metre-long Rolls-Royce isn’t exactly a subtle thing in which to slip away from the scene, so the most likely explanation seems to be that the car was abandoned somewhere within the vast parking structure, with the suspect escaping on foot.

Up until that point, this was surely the most comfortable police chase in history.