Mayhem in Manuka

[First filed: Jul 8, 2010 @ 13:22]

It looks to be a car chase in Manuka, street sectioned off… 8 police cars ? anyone know more?

ED – Rikstr also posted the following:

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I missed it but does anyone know what happend in Mankua at Lunch today?

Looked like an unmarked VW GOLF R32 chased down a Falcon and there was a crash in the Western carpark.

UPDATE: Holden Caulfield has posted the following:

I was just in Manuka for lunch and while looking for a car park noticed there had been a bit of kerfuffle on Furneaux Street. The road was blocked between Franklin and Bouganville Streets and there were several Police cars on site. Whatever the drama was it was over when we got there (approx 1pm).

However, we could see three cars huddled together and it appeared at least two were involved in some sort of crash. The way these cars were parked and the direction they were facing it looked like one of the cars may have rammed the other off the road into the car parks opposite Bamboozle (according to this Google Maps reference).

I just checked the ACT Policing website and there was nothing there about the incident. I have some wildly uneducated theories, but figured it was best to open it up to the floor: does anyone know what really happened?

FURTHER UPDATE: Thanks to ozhair for the tip, here’s Jellyrocket1’s YouTube of the chase finale:

ANOTHER UPDATE: The Canberra Times has a couple more details including that three youths might have been arrested.

The update we’ve been waiting for: Here’s the police account of proceedings:

ACT Policing apprehended three juvenile males this afternoon (Thursday 8 July) following a pursuit in Canberra’s south.

About 12:04pm a police K9 patrol in Fisher sighted a stolen early model gold coloured Ford Falcon sedan and attempted to perform a traffic stop.

The vehicle was identified as having been stolen from a car park in Mawson overnight.

The vehicle was pursued by police for around two minutes when the pursuit was terminated in Curtin. A second police vehicle recommenced the pursuit a short time later.

The pursuit ran for approximately 17 minutes in total. The offending vehicle stopped after colliding with two stationary vehicles on Furneaux Street, Griffith. Police immediately apprehended and arrested the vehicle’s occupants.

The alleged offenders, a 15-year-old, a 16-year-old and a 17-year-old from South Canberra will face the ACT Children’s Court tomorrow morning charged with taking a motor vehicle without authority and traffic offences including unlicensed driving, furious/reckless/dangerous driving and failing to stop. Further charges may be laid.

One more update for the road: The ABC has the court appearance and a bit of a crusade against police pursuits.