LOS ANGELES – A man in his mid-20s was in custody today and facing charges including car theft and felony evasion after a vehicle pursuit that ended near Los Angeles Police Department headquarters. 
 
 The 22-minute pursuit of the stolen Honda Civic began in West Los Angeles around 10:05 p.m. Thursday and ended with two police cruisers slowing and then stopping the vehicle on West First Street, between City Hall and the headquarters building. 
 
 Broadcast footage of the pursuit showed the Honda being driven on sidewalks and weaving in and out of near-stalled traffic on the northbound lanes of the Harbor (110) Freeway. 
 
 LAPD Sgt. Brian Cook said the vehicle was reported stolen Thursday from San Gabriel. 
 
 Two female passengers were taken into custody at the end of the pursuit, along with the driver. Cook said he did not know if the passengers would be booked as well. ||||| The pit maneuver is a technique used by law enforcement to stop fleeing vehicles with minimal risk to the driver, the police, and the public. The acronym PIT has several possible meanings, including Precision Immobilization Technique, Pursuit Intervention Technique, and Precision Intervention Tactic, though the first of these is the most universally accepted. This technique is most often used to end police-involved car chases quickly and effectively to help reduce danger to the public. 
 
 The technique as it is used today likely originated in Germany, where it was used by German military and law enforcement. Some people believe that it may have been derived from the “bump and run” technique used in professional auto racing. It was first used in the US by the Fairfax, Virginia, police department during the 1970s. While the maneuver is considered a standard technique by most US police forces, it has been banned in the UK and other parts of Europe due to perceived danger. 
 
 During a pit maneuver, the pursuing vehicle pulls up alongside a target vehicle and rides parallel. The pursuing vehicle's front tires should be roughly lined up with the target's rear tires. To execute the move, the driver of the pursuing vehicle steers sharply into the side of the target, which causes the target vehicle to skid. The driver of the target vehicle loses control, and his vehicle is likely to either spin out or come to a stop. ||||| "It's almost comical that it happened to end right in front of our office," Kim said. "I can see it from our window."
– It hasn't been a good week for drivers in LA leading police on high-speed chases. Early yesterday evening, one suspect led cops on a 100mph pursuit through the streets of Hollywood before unsuccessfully trying to escape on foot, the Los Angeles Times reports. Then three other suspects apparently wanted to get in the game, speeding along in a green Honda Civic that had been reported stolen and outmaneuvering cop cars and a police helicopter until they ended up in probably the last place they wanted: right in front of LAPD headquarters on First Street in downtown LA. That's where it all fell apart for the racing rebels. Police pulled a PIT move—that awesome tactic often witnessed on cop TV shows where the squad car drives parallel to the "target" car until it can bang into it and force it to skid out, as per Wise Geek—and the car came to a halt. A male suspect in his 20s was booked on car theft and felony evasion charges, and two female passengers were brought into custody after the 22-minute chase, though it's not clear if they'll face charges as well, the Los Angeles Daily News reports. "It's almost comical that it happened to end right in front of our office," an LAPD officer tells the Times. "I can see it from our window."