Fugitive rams police cars during high-speed chase through Melbourne
A driver who rammed police cars during a dramatic chase through Melbourne’s south-east remains on the run.
Officers spotted the stolen Toyota Hilux in Berwick around 10.10am on Tuesday, but the driver failed to stop.
Frightened motorists were forced to dodge out of the way as the stolen ute sped towards them on the wrong side of the road.
“I saw a car coming straight towards me, I had my two babies in the back seat,” witness Amy Cochrane said.
“Instinct, I guess, kicked in and I veered straight off to the left.”
The mother-of-four said she had no doubt the driver would have hit her, had she not avoided a collision.
Marked police cars and the police airwing tracked the reckless driver, but he refused to stop.
The chase went through a number of suburbs including Narre Warren, Pakenham and Berwick before it was terminated in Cranbourne.
However it wasn’t before frightened residents in the suburb of Officer watched on as the driver mounted the kerb and managed to avoid a police car by cutting across the grass.
Police arrested a female passenger, who jumped out of the utility midway through the chase in Pakenham.
She has since been released “pending further inquiries”.
Locals say the white ute has been seen driving erratically through the area over the past few days.
The incident comes less than a week after another Melbourne driver led police on a high-speed chase through a number of towns, before managing to evade arrest.
In that instance, two female passengers exited the vehicle when it stopped for fuel, but the chase was called off due to the danger to the public.
Police are appealing for the public’s help to locate Tuesday's erratic driver, given there's been no sighting of the man or the vehicle since the chase was aborted.
"It’s a great concern for us that this person has driven as erratically as he has today," detective senior constable Ray Gunton said.
"We ask that this male will hand himself in to the nearest police station."
The man is described as being tall, thin and heavily tattooed. Anyone with information should call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
