A police officer has been taken to hospital after two police cars were repeatedly rammed by stolen vehicles in an overnight incident in Townsville.
Detective Inspector Jason Shepherd alleged patrolling officers were "actively targeted" by three stolen cars, which were first spotted at Vincent around 1:15am.
"From that point on, the stolen vehicles then started to target the two police vehicles … to the point where at a couple of stages the police vehicles have been sideswiped by the stolen cars, causing damage to the sides of the police vehicles," he said.
Detective Inspector Shepherd said police were forced to withdraw to the Mundingburra Police Station to avoid further danger.
One officer was taken to hospital with back and neck complaints but has since been cleared.
He said police were now searching for the offenders.
"It's very unusual. As far as I'm aware, in recent times, it's probably only the second time that this has occurred," he said.
"The reason that we had to tactically withdraw is obviously the police vehicles have become the target.
"Probably with three stolen vehicles and two police cars, they might have felt a bit more confident in that they were sort of outnumbering the police in that situation."
Police searching for vehicles
Detective Inspector Shepherd said the officers had been left shaken by the incident.
"It's a different situation, having to be chased, and obviously outnumbered by cars," he said.
"From watching the [dashcam] footage, I could safely say even though it was dangerous behaviour by the offenders … there was no incidents of head-on collisions or any of that sort of behaviour – it was more swerving and sideswiping.
"I don't think there was ever an intention to deliberately cause a lot of injury or harm to police officers or the vehicles."
One of the stolen cars was later found burnt out in Vincent, with police still searching for the other two vehicles.
"What I understand from some of the early information that's coming in is that there were up to four or five [offenders] in one car alone that were seen leaving the burnt-out vehicle," Detective Inspector Shepherd said.
'Disgraceful behaviour'
Police Minister Mark Ryan described the offending as "dangerous, outrageous and disgraceful".
"I've been assured by the [police] commissioner that all available resources are being deployed to apprehend those offenders and I hope that they're in custody very soon, and obviously they'll be facing some very significant charges," Mr Ryan said.
LNP shadow police minister Dale Last said the incident was a "low point" for north Queensland.
"Our police officers are out there every day, doing the best they can to keep our community safe, and here we have the ludicrous situation of stolen vehicles chasing police vehicles, ramming police vehicles on the streets of Townsville," he said.
"It is absolutely appalling. It is disgraceful behaviour."
