Two police cars followed a Honda that stormed onto the runway at the Van Nuys airport on Friday. The driver moved erratically while waving one hand out the sunroof, another out the side window. Maybe he was steering with his knees, or not steering at all.

When the driver was finally caught around 9 a.m. he “cooperated with officers, but also rambled about being followed by the government and the Mexican cartel.”

Because 2020 isn’t strange enough @LAAirportPD at @VanNuysAirport found themselves in a pursuit ON THE RUNWAY today. A driver, often with his hands out the sunroof somehow got on airport grounds and took off. He was arrested. pic.twitter.com/hihnvLu7dy

— Kris Van Cleave (@krisvancleave) November 6, 2020

Naturally the chase was caught on video.

Air traffic control called it while it was happening: “Everybody standby there’s a crazy man on the loose that was on the runway.”

According to the Los Angeles area airport authority,

At around 8:50 a.m. the Los Angeles Airport Police engaged in a pursuit of an unauthorized vehicle that broke through a fence at Van Nuys airport and entered the airfield. Aircraft traffic was immediately stopped. Both runways were re-opened around 9:50 a.m. after being inspected for safety. Police arrested one suspect at the scene and are investigating the incident. Los Angeles World Airports is grateful for the swift action by police.

The striking thing for me is that we haven’t seemed to have had as many good car chases in Southern California lately. There was a time when nothing was more on-brand for LA than a good freeway chase. When I lived there in the early 90’s it seemed like everything stopped for a car chase, you ordered takeout and stayed glued to the screen. Those could last for hours. The second episode of It’s Like, You Know really did capture the ethos of the era.

While the Honda driver did get close to some aircraft in Van Nuys, and police did hit the vehicle, nobody was hurt.