A driver was arrested early Friday morning after leading Los Angeles cops on a WILD chase through the streets and eventually onto the freeway ... which ended with a bloody crash.
This whole thing reportedly kicked off in the Santa Monica area -- and while it's unclear why exactly police officers first tried to pull this woman over ... it quickly became clear she wasn't going to stop, and the cavalry got called in to take her down the longer she kept driving.
The pursuit lasted quite a while, and the more erratic it became -- the more news helicopters arrived to capture the action ... at one point, it made its way onto the busy 405 freeway.
LAPD tried multiple pit maneuvers to stop this lady, but none were successful in bringing her big white van to a halt -- as she continued evading officers and dodging all their on-road tactics. Like we said ... it's probably one of the craziest police chases in recent memory.
Anyway, this woman closed this with utter chaos ... flipping a U-turn on the freeway and going in the complete opposite direction ... driving down the empty road and into oncoming traffic, which was at a complete standstill as authorities cleared the area over the danger.
Sure enough, she ended up reaching the stopped cars ... and crashed into a sedan head-on and then into a semi-truck behind it -- knocking into several other vehicles along the way.
That's when cops swarmed on this woman, who jumped out of her van and climbed onto the hood of the truck until they were able to nab her and put her in handcuffs. As news cameras rolled ... it became clear she'd suffered serious injuries, 'cause she was all bloody/jacked up.
Certainly, a mug nobody will forget anytime soon ... she looks like quite a character. Anyway, she's going to jail -- no word just yet on what exact charges she may be facing.