A 41-year-old woman is in an induced coma in Royal Melbourne Hospital after a driver being pursued by police crashed into her car on Monday night.
Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Doug Fryer defended the decision to pursue the driver on Preston's Bell Street in Melbourne's north-east after the 31-year-old man was seen driving erratically and narrowly missed hitting a police car.
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Woman injured in Preston police pursuit
A woman is seriously injured after a driver trying to elude police crashes into her car on Bell Street in Preston, with the offender in hospital under police guard. Courtesy ABC News.
The victim, who has a punctured lung and fractured ribs, was driving through a green light on Victoria Street at 11.20pm with one teenage passenger when her car was T-boned by the fleeing white ute.
The driver of the ute, which had fraudulent number plates, is known to police and had already been disqualified from driving.
He tested positive for cannabis and amphetamine while another pair of fraudulent plates were found in his car.
He tried to flee the scene after the crash outside the Bell Street homemaker centre, with police apprehending the man and arresting him.
Mr Fryer said it was "lucky" the smash wasn't a double fatality due to the man's reckless driving.
The injured woman's teenage passenger was uninjured, while the male driver, who is expected to face court, is in hospital under police guard with minor head injuries.
Mr Fryer said the pursuit lasted less than one kilometre and he maintained that Victoria Police members were clear on the force's pursuit policies, with all pursuits independently reviewed.
"The reality is this;Â Victoria Police has a pursuit policy," he said at a media conference on Tuesday morning.
 "Our members absolutely understand the threshold of when to engage pursuits with a fleeing vehicle. We have 60 to 70 pursuits a month and our policy is certainly well known to our membership."
"Every pursuit is reviewed by a divisional driving panel and we have a look at the circumstances, all the radio communications, and the reason for engaging.
"We've got an experienced senior sergeant who has made the call.
"I wasn't there but what I'm told is that he's seen significant erratic driving behaviour and he's made the decision to intercept.
"We see something that puts the community at risk and we intercept."
Mr Fryer said officers tried to stop the man after intercepting him in a side street behind the Bell City hotel.
"Officers attempted to pull him over but he refused that direction and deliberately tried to evade the police," he said.
The male driver will be interviewed by police later on Tuesday and is expected to face court on a number of charges including evading police.
