A high-speed pursuit ended in ‘absolute carnage’, leaving seven police officers in hospital and six cars wrecked.
Officers were chasing a dark grey BMW along the A1 near Denton in Newcastle early on Wednesday morning when the mayhem unfolded.
One unmarked police Volvo was ripped apart as it slammed into the central reservation barrier before flipping onto its side.
And fire crews had to cut the roof off of another crumpled police cruiser – with debris from the smash left strewn across the dual carriageway.
The chase started when cops spotted the BMW M Sport being driven suspiciously in the Wickham area of Gateshead.
The driver allegedly failed to stop after police signalled them to do so before then speeding off. Four marked patrol cars and an unmarked motor chased it north before the crash at 2.30am close to junction 79 near Newcastle.
The horror pile-up closed the road for more than 12 hours, with glass and debris left scattered across all three lanes. A police expert claimed the devastation may have been caused during a ‘failed attempt to box-in’ the fleeing BMW.
Two people – a man and a woman in their 20s – were arrested at the scene. The woman has since been released with no further action, while the male has been released on police bail.
