Two women have died and a man has been arrested after a car crash following a police pursuit in Sydney’s south-west.
NSW Police say they pursued a red sedan after it was stolen from a man, 25, who was filling up his car at a petrol station on King Georges Road, South Hurstville, at about 10am on Saturday.
The owner of the car was allegedly assaulted and his phone and keys were taken from his pockets, according to police.
The vehicle was later spotted on King Georges Road at Beverly Hills, where police began a pursuit which progressed onto the M5 after attempts to stop the car failed.
NSW Police say the red sedan was stolen from a petrol station at South Hurstville. (ABC News)
At this point, police stopped their chase, handing the monitoring over to PolAir, Assistant Commissioner Brett McFadden said.
“Over the next 40 minutes, police conducted an operation looking at strategies in order to try and stop this vehicle,” he said.
“I’ve watched the footage from our aviation support aircraft, and I can tell you that there were no police vehicles around this driver, and he was driving in what I could describe as one of the most reckless and dangerous demonstrations of driving I’ve seen in a long time.”
In defending the action of officers, Assistant Commissioner McFadden reiterated that during the aerial surveillance “there was no pursuit activity involving this vehicle”.
“There was communication going to our forward commanders on the ground, and they were managing and looking at opportunities to intervene that didn’t result in a pursuit,” he said.
Level 2 critical incident declared
On the Remembrance Drive at Camden, approaching the intersection of the Old Hume Highway, the red sedan crossed the intersection, hitting an Alfa Romeo sedan that was turning right at about 11am.
Paramedics treated the Alfa’s 60-year-old driver and her 84-year-old female front-seat passenger at the scene, but they were not able to be saved. Â
Brett McFadden says PolAir took over the monitoring of the red sedan after police stopped their pursuit. (ABC News)
The women are yet to be identified, but police said they were locals, part of an extend family.
“I believe they’re from the Campbelltown area but this is … an absolutely devastating experience for this family, but there’ll be a long time as they come to terms with it,” Commissioner McFadden said.
Police allege the driver of the red sedan, who is “well-known” to police, ran from the scene of the crash but was arrested by a female officer “on her own and at gunpoint”.
The man is currently in custody at Campbelltown Police Station where investigations into the incident are ongoing.
The earlier critical incident declaration has been upgraded to a Level 2 by Commissioner McFadden, as the “death during a police operation” meets the criteria.
The investigation is subject to review by the Professional Standards Command and is overseen by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission.
Multiple crime scenes have been set up.