Critical incident investigation underway after police pursuit and crash at Hamilton puts multiple people in hospital

It turns out there was more to a crash at Hamilton yesterday than first thought.

The Northern Region High Visibility Policing Unit were patrolling Hamilton at about 11 o’clock in the morning when they saw an unregistered red Suzuki Swift on Everton Street.

The driver failed to pull over when directed to by police and officers then gave chase.

The pursuit didn’t last long, it was terminated a short time later as it was too dangerous.

Police continued their patrol of the area and found the Suzuki rolled on its side after colliding with a Toyota Hilux at the intersection of Lawson and Denison Streets.

A rear seat passenger of the Suzuki – a 27-year-old woman – was trapped in the vehicle before being extracted by emergency services and was then taken to the John Hunter Hospital in a serious condition, where she remains.

The driver and two other passengers of the Suzuki fled the scene on foot but they were tracked down and arrested a short distance away.

The 38-year-old male driver was also taken to the John Hunter in a stable condition where he remains under police guard.

The two passengers, a 29-year-old woman and a 23-year-old man, were also taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The 40-year-old male driver of the Toyota Hilux and his passenger, a 21-year-old man were not injured during the incident

A crime scene was established and examined by specialist police from the Crash Investigation Unit.

A critical incident team from the Hunter Valley Police District will now investigate all circumstances surrounding the incident and that investigation will be subject to an independent review.

No police officers were injured during the incident.

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