Police are investigating after a serious crash involving multiple vehicles occurred early Saturday morning in Victoria.
Victoria police say they attempted to pull over a vehicle in the area of Gorge Road and Rock Bay Avenue shortly after midnight. The driver "failed to stop for officers and fled at high speed," police said in a news release.
The driver crashed into three other vehicles at the busy intersection of Douglas and Bay streets, causing significant damage to all of them, as well as his own.
Police said the drivers of the three other vehicles were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The driver of the first vehicle fled on foot and officers arrested a suspect nearby, police said.
Because the incident involved police and caused significant injuries, the Independent Investigations Office has been notified. The IIO is a civilian organization tasked with investigating situations involving police officers in B.C. that result in death or serious injury. The watchdog works to determine whether police took -- or failed to take -- any actions that caused harm.
Security footage sent to CTV News Vancouver Island shows drivers and cyclists passing through a green light when another vehicle drives right into the intersection. Just moments before the crash, a bicyclist approaches to cross the intersection and is just narrowly missed as vehicles get thrown in every direction. People can be seen frantically running from the scene.
At least four vehicles were involved in the crash, with some of them thrown across the street and one flipped on its roof.
Police officers taped off the intersection overnight and were investigating at the scene. It is not clear the extent of injuries in the crash.
