Police pursuing the driver of a large white utility vehicle through the Northern Beaches last night say they had to call off the chase for the public’s safety.
The vehicle was later found abandoned in Cremorne and seized by police for forensic testing.
“The car was insanely fast,” one witness reported to Manly Observer. “It was way too scary we were driving and had to quickly move the car as a big Ford Ranger, white, pretty much drove on top of us it was insanely fast.”
The vehicle nearly took out a motorbike rider, they added.
“I’ve never seen a car go so fast, I am just glad I had time to move.”
“I’ve never seen a car go so fast, I am just glad I had time to move.”
Another witness described a near miss as they too reported to be a Ford Ranger nearly ran them off the road at incredible speed as it worked to evade at least five police vehicles following it last night through Manly Vale and up through Burnt Bridge Deviation at Seaforth.
“The large white ute pulled in front of me at the intersection outside KFC at Manly Vale,” they said.
“I was in the middle lane with a green light when I saw flashing lights behind me so I slowed down – thankfully – as then the large white ute did a u-turn heading towards Burnt Bridge Creek Deviation from the left lane at high speed. I was then trapped in the middle lane as six or seven police cars went around me to then chase at high speeds. I then saw more police coming from Brookvale,” she said.
Another shared: “I was almost t-boned in Mosman about 9.30pm tonight by a car being chasedby about 10 cop cars. After a-turn infront of me, they headed north and went down Burnt Bridge Creek deviation before doing a U-turn and coming up wrong side of the road at Sydney Road…Cop car thankfully stopped us for police to chase him safely through the intersection.”
Police confirmed that the pursuit had begun in Bondi at about 8.40pm, when they located a white four wheel drive which had been reported stolen from Connells Point earlier in the day.
“When police attempted to stop the vehicle a pursuit was initiated, before being terminated due to safety concerns,” a spokesperson confirmed.
“The vehicle reportedly drove through Kings Cross and the city, before traveling to the Northern Beaches.
About 9:50pm, officers attached to North Shore Police Area Command located the vehicle abandoned on Sutherland Street, Cremorne.
The vehicle has been seized for forensic examination.
Inquiries into the incident are ongoing.”
