A CAR-JACKING came to a dramatic end at a Beveridge truck-stop when Wallan police arrested a man after he was on the run for close to 45 minutes on Wednesday.
Mitchell Area Inspector Peter Koger said the 33-year-old Whittlesea man travelled north along the Hume Freeway in a hire car, stopping at a Shell service station in Kalkallo at about 3.30pm, after allegedly experiencing a mechanical fault.
The man asked two people for their cars at the service station with no success, leading him to drag a woman, in her 70s, out of her Pajero, leaving her two dogs were inside the car.
The woman’s husband, aged in his 60s, was situated in between the car and the attached trailer, and sustained minor injuries as the man fled the scene, continuing north on the freeway.
Inspector Koger said the man dumped the trailer at a relative’s home in Beveridge before a patrolling police divisional van spotted the stolen car.
The suspect then returned to the Hume Freeway where he continued to flee southbound, stopping at a truck stop where he was followed by police.
Two police officers, armed with tasers, approached the man, who was allegedly carrying a knife, demanding he drop the weapon.
The man went on to allegedly make superficial cuts to his throat and dropped to the ground where police arrested him.
Officers performed first-aid and applied pressure to the wound while waiting for paramedics to arrive on scene about 4.15pm.
Inspector Koger said it wasn’t a life-threatening injury, the man remained conscious and was transported to the Northern Hospital by ambulance where he remained under police guard.
The car, with the dogs inside, was returned to the woman.
“It was a really good job done by my members, a fantastic job. It could’ve easily been a police shooting and if he hadn’t dropped the knife and kept moving, we would’ve had to engage,” Inspector Koger said.
Hume Criminal Investigation Unit is investigating the incident.
The man will appear before the Magistrates Court on May 20.
