Overview
- A VW Polo failed to stop for officers and, after a short pursuit on Wednesday 12 August, collided with a van travelling the opposite way on Lord Byron's Walk before striking a tree.
- Emergency crews treated three people at the scene and took them to Sunderland Royal Hospital, with two recorded as having serious injuries.
- Durham Constabulary and local reports say the car driver, a man in his 20s, suffered leg injuries, his passenger, a woman in her 20s, suffered head injuries, and the van driver, a man in his 50s, suffered back injuries.
- Police, North East Ambulance Service crews, the Great North Air Ambulance and fire crews attended; the air ambulance reached the scene quickly and crews helped stabilise patients.
- Lord Byron's Walk was closed for around nine hours and reopened at about 3am, and Durham Constabulary is appealing for anyone with information or dashcam footage to call 101 quoting incident reference 401 of August 12.