Downtown Los Angeles, the perfect setting for a arena-sized rock band like Muse to strut their stuff in a music video. The sights, the sounds, the car chases…

In a true case of stranger than fiction, Muse and some of their fans found themselves at the centre of a thrilling police chase that ended with a motor accident, and a drug bust with illicit materials strewn across the street.

According to CBS News, a Land Rover Discovery was attempting to flee the scene, and nearly ran over a bicycle cop in the process, the policeman giving chase after nearly being flattened by the vehicle .

Nearby a crowd had gathered to watch British rock trio, Muse, when a motorcycle cop joined the pursuit on the suspect, the driver of the Land Rover took a wrong turn down a one-way street; colliding with a pair of vehicles just by the music video shoot.

Adding to the sense of drama, the suspect in the Land Rover was tossing drugs and money from the window of the vehicle before careening into the vehicles near the Muse crowd.

LAPD officer Karen Rayner said that local residents of Greater Skid Row made off with the contraband before the police could retrieve the drugs and money as evidence, finding more illicit drugs and money inside the crashed vehicle after apprehending the 20-year-old driver.

No one at the Muse video shoot was injured, save for a person inside one of the parked vehicles that the fleeing drug runner hit with his 4WD, they complained of pain, but were not rushed to hospital.

While Muse may not feature much of the police chase in their new video, they did release details overnight that their new album, The 2nd Law – originally due for a September release – has been postponed until October 1st; writing on their website: “Sorry about the delay, we promise it will be worth it!”

Along with the announcement of the delay, Muse also revealed the artwork for their sixth studio album, a ‘neuro-image’ of the brain supplied by the The Human Connectome Project, as well as news that the first official single from the album, ‘Madness’, will be released on August 20.

Our first taste of the new album was the official London 2012 Olympics selected anthem, ‘Survival’ – which the band are set to perform live at the Olympics Closing Ceremony; while frontman/guitar&piano virtuoso Matt Bellamy and drummer Dominic Howard have talked about they “took inspiration” from Skrillex for one the album’s dubstep-inspired track, ‘The 2nd Law; Unsustainable’.

That rainbow koosh ball below is the cover for The 2nd Law and you can revisit the Queen/Middle Eastern-malarky of Muse’s Olympic-inspired ‘Survival’ below:

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