An automated smart phone message alerted police to an alleged drink driver early this morning, sparking a pursuit in South Australia's Mid North region.
The iPhone made an automatic emergency triple-0 call to police just before 3am, indicating that the phone's owner had been involved in a crash on Caroona Road at Port Augusta West.
Police said responding officers passed a damaged Toyota SUV and attempted to stop the driver.
"We headed out to see that they were OK … and just as we were coming up to where we thought it would be, we saw a car that had reasonably significant damage to it," Sergeant Tom Porter from the Port Augusta Police said.
A short pursuit allegedly ensued through the backstreets of Port Augusta West until the blue car stopped in a driveway on Sanderson Street.
Two occupants of the vehicle were taken to hospital and treated for minor injuries.
The 17-year-old male driver was arrested and charged with driving under the influence, engaging in a pursuit, driving in a manner dangerous, breaching licence conditions and hindering police.
He was refused police bail and will appear in court at a later date.
'Swearing' and 'revving'
Sergeant Porter said newer some phones had crash-sensing technology.
"It seems like newer iPhones and Apple Watches have it in-built," he said.
"If they detect that you've been involved in a crash of some sort, I'm guessing, through the motion sensors … they come up with an alert on your phone, giving you about 20 seconds to respond.
"If you don't respond they'll flick the call through to us.
"We get the details of the person's location as well as a live-feed through to the microphone, so in this instance we could hear a bit of swearing and a bit of revving.
"It's something that's relatively new but we have had some success with it in the past."
Unlicensed driver arrested
Hours before, a man who had never been issued a driver's licence was caught allegedly driving more than five times the legal blood alcohol limit in Ceduna.
Police stopped the driver on O'Loughlin Terrace just before 1am.
Police allege the vehicle's high-beams were on, dazzling road users.
The driver submitted to a roadside alcohol test and allegedly blew a blood alcohol reading of 0.279.
The 32-year-old West Australian man's car was impounded.
He was also reported for using his lights to dazzle other road users, drink-driving and driving unlicensed.
