A 40-year-old man has been arrested after leading police on a car chase through numerous suburbs in the Illawarra in the early hours of Saturday morning.
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Traversing the region from Shellharbour to Wollongong, it left many residents scratching their head, with sirens ringing in their ears.
The pursuit of the van, which was witnessed driving slowly without front tyres for parts of the chase, went through the Shellharbour CBD, Wollongong CBD, Oak Flats, Windang, Warrawong, Port Kembla, Unanderra, Berkeley and Dapto.
The vehicle was finally stopped near Oak Flats Police Station.
The driver and single occupant of the van was arrested and taken in to the police station, before being transported to Shellharbour Hospital for assessment.
Police said the pursuit began about 2am, when officers from Lake Illawarra Police District attended Bass Point Reserve, following reports a male was armed with a knife and had left in a Toyota Hiace van.
Police later sighted the vehicle on Harbour Boulevarde, Shell Cove.
When officers attempted to stop the driver and he failed to stop, police commenced a pursuit.
They used road spikes to disable the vehicle, police media said, explaining the van's lack of front tyres.
In one video posted to social media from the Oak Flats leg of the chase, the driver leads a line of police cars through a suburban street.
Ambling along, he had not forgotten the road rules as he navigated a roundabout.
"At least he used his blinker to let the cops know he was turning left," Trina Smith remarked.
"Haha, the bloke is sticking to under the speed limit, staying in his lane and even indicating," Janelle Cee said.
Daniel Murdesvski commented that he's witnessed the chase at the Princes Highway in Unanderra about 4am, promoting Renee Grace to quip "chase or crawl?"
Kate McIlwain
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
