Jeep goes on rampage, crashing cars

A Jeep driver's suspected drunken rampage through Sydney ended when his vehicle became wedged between two police patrol cars, police say.

In the last moments of yesterday's pursuit, which traversed Merrylands and Guildford in Sydney's west, the 50-year-old driver reversed onto the bonnet of a police car, crushing it under his bulky tyres, before crashing to a halt into a second patrol vehicle.

The pursuit began after police received a call about 1am yesterday that a man, who had been rejected from entering a pub on Military Road in Merrylands, for seemingly being too drunk, had got in his Jeep Cherokee and driven away.

Police immediately began pursuing the car but when the driver allegedly refused to stop and began driving erratically, they were forced to end the pursuit for safety reasons, police say.

"If someone's driving dangerously, we have to stop pursing them," Inspector Peter Nixon from the Fairfield police station said. "We have to turn off the sirens and lights and turn around."

The driver then continued to Guildford, where he allegedly crashed into two cars while driving on the wrong side of the road, causing minor injuries to four people inside.

Two different patrol cars then pursued the Jeep, chasing it into a cul-de-sac.

Cornered by the two cars, the Jeep driver made a last-ditch attempt at escape, reversing his vehicle onto the front bonnet of one of the cars, crushing the front of the Ford XR8 under his huge wheels.

The Jeep driver then drove forwards off the bonnet and straight into the other police car, which had manoeuvred itself in the way of the driver, police say.

Police say the driver, from Riverwood in Sydney's south-west, "didn't say much" when he was arrested. He was taken to Westmead Hospital for minor injuries, mainly caused by the airbags, which had inflated on his final collision with the police car.

Police are now awaiting blood test results to determine his blood alcohol level, and expect to charge him with a range of offences, including dangerous driving and leaving the scene of an accident.