Police officer hurt as chase ends in smash

A POLICEWOMAN has been hurt following a car chase through city streets which ended in a dramatic crash yards from the US consulate building.

Witnesses told how a red Rover 214 was seen speeding along Carlton Terrace with police in pursuit before both vehicles ploughed into metal bollards outside the consulate. The police car then caught fire.

The driver of the speeding car is said to have walked free of the wreckage.

A female police officer is understood to have been treated at the scene by paramedics after her vehicle caught fire in the collision.

The chase began after 6pm last night following an incident in Stockbridge.

A resident, who lives yards from the crash scene but did not want to be named, said: “I heard two loud bangs one after the other and when I looked out of the window a police car was smouldering and eventually caught fire.”

Student Luke Harrison, 22, ventured out on to the street after hearing revving engines and the thud of a car crash.

“I was watching TV at home with my flatmates and could hear the sound of a revved-up engine and then a crash,” he said. “We came outside and there was a guy laying on the ground – who looked like he was high on drugs or drunk – with about seven police men surrounding him and one kneeling on his back putting handcuffs on him.”

“The guy was moaning, protesting and shouting.”

He added: “I’m sure it was a police chase because you could hear the cars’ engines revving and there would be no need for a car to be travelling that fast along here.”

School boy Joachim Coffinier, 13, witnessed the commotion as he was walking along Carlton Terrace.

“I was coming home from school when I saw a red car whizzing past me followed by a police car. The driver was going really fast and it looked like the police were chasing him,” he said.

“A few moments later when I arrived at my house I saw tonnes of other police cars pulling up and the fire brigade near the top of the street.”

A police spokesman said: “A man has been arrested by police following a road traffic collision.

“The arrest follows an incident in the Stockbridge area of the city around 6.15pm when the vehicle he was driving collided with a police vehicle. Following a brief pursuit, the car and driver were stopped in Regent Terrace where the driver was detained. No-one was injured in the incident.

“A report will now be submitted to the procurator fiscal at Edinburgh”

A spokeswoman for the fire service said: “We used tools to access the engine to isolate the power to engine and made the vehicle safe.”