Action sequences are common in comic books, but fans attending a free Comic Book Day event last Saturday at Golden Apple Comics on Melrose Avenue got to witness some action first-hand.

Fans lined up for free Comic Book Day witnessed the end of a police chase as they waited outside the store last Saturday. Charges have yet to be filed against the suspect. (photo by Edwin Folven)

Several hundred people were lined up in front of the store and were gathered in a nearby parking lot a block east of La Brea Avenue when a female driver being chased by police pulled up, jumped from the vehicle and tried to push her way inside the store. Fans scattered as the woman’s Jeep rolled forward approximately 50 feet at a slow speed and collided with a wall. An employee of the store held the door closed, and officers tackled the suspect on the sidewalk and arrested her before she could flee.

“It was crazy,” Golden Apple Comics owner Sharon Liebowitz said. “It was way past crazy; it was scary.”

Liebowitz said the incident occurred around 12:30 p.m. Her son, Ryan, saw the vehicle stop in front of the store, and he held the door shut so the suspect couldn’t get inside.

“She jumped out, and the car just kept going down the sidewalk,” Sharon Liebowitz said. “It could have struck hundreds of people if they didn’t move out of the way. Most of them were kids. The whole parking lot was full, with people doing signings.”

The unidentified suspect was allegedly involved in a hit and run collision a short time earlier near La Brea and Fountain avenues. She was taken into custody without further incident and transported by paramedics to the hospital. Melrose Avenue was blocked by police cars for a short period of time while officers made the arrest, according to Sharon’s daughter-in-law, Kendra.

“They took her away in ambulance,” she said. “She did not look very coherent.”

Investigator Olin Osborne, with the Los Angeles Police Department’s West Traffic Division, said officers took a report for a felony hit and run, but no charges had been filed as of Wednesday. The victim may still be undergoing psychiatric evaluation or receiving treatment for a medical condition. He said the case remains under investigation, and detectives would determine later whether the information would be submitted to the Los Angeles County District’s Attorney’s Office for prosecution.

Sharon Liebowitz said free Comic Book Day resumed after police completed their on-scene investigation.

“We’ve had some crazy things happen, but not that crazy,” she added.