Four teenagers driving a stolen BMW SUV rammed a garda car in Cork early this morning and reportedly drove on the wrong side of the road as they attempted to flee.
Gardaí came across the teenagers, aged between 14 and 19, trying to break into cars in the Kinsale area of Co Cork.
Shortly after 2:30am, gardaí on active patrol in the Belgooly area attempted to stop a vehicle with multiple occupants as it left a residential estate.
The teenagers, who were in a BMW SUV stolen from Rochestown, a Cork city suburb, tried to escape, ramming a Garda patrol car and driving on the wrong side of the road.
A garda car was damaged in the ramming incident, but no gardaí were injured.
Gardaí, including armed gardaí, responded, pursuing the vehicle through towns and country roads in the Kinsale, Belgooly and Riverstick areas.
A stinger device was laid on a road by gardaí to stop the fleeing stolen vehicle, but the SUV broke down near Ballinhassig village shortly before 3am, before reaching the stinger device.
The teenagers fled on foot and gardaí pursued them through fields in the dark.
Four teenagers, aged between 14 and 19, were subsequently arrested. Some of the teenagers are suspected of involvement in a number of car thefts.
The youths were detained in garda stations in Bandon and Clonakilty under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984.
The recovered vehicle, a BMW X5, had been stolen earlier in the night during a burglary at a residence in the Rochestown area of Cork. It has been seized for technical examination.
No injuries were reported during the incident.
Investigations are ongoing, a garda spokesperson said.