Strange star like light that quickly changed direction and speed and then quickly sped off into the distance

I was looking up at the sky in a north west area of los angeles and saw what appeared to be a satellite traveling in a south east direction.  The color was that of a star and I did not see any blinking lights that would have indicated that the object was an airplane.  It looked quite high in the sky and because of its similarity to a very bright star, and lack of lights, and speed, I assumed it was a satellite.  It was moving about 3 times quicker than a normal commercial aircraft would move.  
All of a sudden the object took a sharp turn around 30 degrees to the west and its speed picked up about two to three times that of what it was originally traveling.  It traveled at that speed for about one second and then all of a sudden picked up tremendous speed and shot out of view.  
The whole sighting lasted maybe 5-10 seconds.  It was definitely something I could not explain.  I've seen satellites, I've seen shooting stars, I've seen airplanes of all sorts, and t! he object I saw and it's maneuverability and speed matched none of those.
Witness indicates that the date of the sighting is approximate.  PD