By mid-afternoon, police confirmed they were still looking for the man, but there was no threat to the public.
The man crashed the car he was driving on Pigeon Flat Rd near the northbound highway. The vehicle was up to the edges by this time after hitting bumps that separated the lanes from the bike path in the one-way system.
Dunedin resident Matt Anderson said he was waiting in traffic on Cumberland St (State Highway 1) when a green ute hit the van he was in from behind.
The impact pushed the van into an SUV in front of him and damaged the van’s radiator.
It looked like the man was in a hurry to get away, Anderson said.
Another witness said the man hit another vehicle in the next section of Cumberland St, near the New World supermarket.
He also later saw it driving north on the northern highway, where it nearly collided with two trucks, the witness said.
A Otago Daily Times A reporter driving to Dunedin said he saw a green ute heading north on the highway with at least one of its wheels dropping rubber.
Several police cars with lights followed, about five minutes late, the witness said.
A police spokesperson said officers were responding to reports of dangerous driving in Pigeon Flat Rd and a vehicle had crashed into a bank around 12:50 p.m.
It turned out to be the same vehicle that had driven away from Cumberland St.
The ute, a Suzuki Escudo, had been left with its wheels in a ditch.
KiwiHarvest operations supervisor Rae De Haan said this afternoon the vehicle was stolen from the organization’s driveway in Willis St.
The car belonged to KiwiHarvest driver Richard Yardley, who had stopped by on his day off.
His poodle Archie was in the stolen vehicle, leaving him distraught.
He was relieved to find that Archie had recovered from the crashed ute and was okay.
A Otago Daily Times Photographer at the crime scene at the intersection of Pigeon Flat Rd and SH1 said there were four police cars, two of which had driven through Pigeon Flat Rd.
Some officers were armed. Remains of shredded tires could be seen on the highway, he said.
The photographer said it looked like a cop next to a police car on SH1 was scanning the neighboring bush for the perpetrator.