A driver has been taken into custody after pulling his vehicle to the curb in Panorama City and inhaling gas from as many as 15 balloons while police -- with their weapons drawn -- watched.

The bizarre scene was captured live on television. Cameras showed the man filling a series of blue and then red balloons with gas from a tank that appeared to be stationed in the passenger's seat.

The driver appeared to become progressively more agitated as he inflated the balloons one after another and put them to his mouth, according to live footage on CBS-2.

Los Angeles Police Department officers eventually fired bean bags into the vehicle, smashed a window and pulled the driver to the asphalt.

Police said the pursuit began when it appeared the motorist, behind the wheel of an older model Honda, was driving erratically along city streets.

ALSO:

Palmdale woman adopted children despite complaints

Mystery deepens over Glendale man's body found buried in forest

Rebuke of Cardinal Mahony casts a lengthy shadow at L.A. churches

-- A Times staff writer