LAPD’s Dramatic Arrest Of Bloomberg News Crew Mistaken For Armed Robbers

Los Angeles police surrounded a dark-colored Yukon on Thursday after reports of an armed robbery in Hollywood, finally stopping the vehicle and confronting its inhabitants. Unfortunately, instead of finding armed robbers, they found a terrified Bloomberg News crew that happened to be in the area at the time.

According to local station KTLA, a pedestrian was assaulted by two male suspects carrying weapons, which were later suspected to drive away in a vehicle similar to the Bloomberg crew. The LAPD launched a helicopter search that, an hour later, found what they believed was the vehicle in question, which turned out to contain only a number of unsuspecting journalists. According to TV Newser:

The robbery happened on a Hollywood street. A hour later an LAPD air unit started following a vehicle that matched the description of the suspects’ vehicle. A you can see from the photo, which was taken by Twitter user Brittany Joe, LAPD officers drew their guns and forced the Bloomberg crew to get face-down on the pavement. […]

Bloomberg photographer Jonathan Alcorn posted on his Facebook page: “Was just prone on the ground felony stop with about 10 guns pointed at me and a news crew. Felony stop mistaken identity shotguns helicopter. The whole deal.”

No word on whether the actual criminals have been found, though the journalists have, in fact, been released.

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