Detectives will question a driver of a stolen car after a 20-second police chase ended in a devastating crash, killing a young passenger.
Police had sent a divisional van to Dandenong in Melbourne's southeast around 3.50am (AEDT) on Tuesday after receiving a report of a car being driven erratically.
Acting Assistant Commissioner Kevin Casey said "tragic circumstances" then unfolded as the police van activated its lights and tried to pull the car over, only to have it accelerate and speed away.
"It appears that the vehicle has actually ... lost control and mounted the kerb on the left hand side," he told reporters at the scene on Tuesday.
The red Mitsubishi hit a railing that penetrated the passenger side of the car, killing the young man in the front passenger seat.
Mr Casey said the police chase lasted only about 20 seconds from the time the divisional van started the pursuit until the crash.
The driver, a man believed to be in his 20s, was taken to hospital with minor injuries.
He was under police guard on Tuesday and police expected to interview him at a later date.
Police say the stolen car was travelling well above the 80km/h speed limit at the time of the crash.
The incident is one of several police pursuits in the past few months that have ended in serious damage or injury.
But police defended their policy on pursuits and were backed by the state government on Tuesday.
"Unfortunately, tragically even, these matters occur occasionally, but I think police ought to be commended generally in the way in which they go about this," Acting Premier Peter Ryan told reporters.
"I think they do strike the balance."
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