Victoria's police chief says the "last thing" the force wants is people getting involved in pursuits after a man claimed he deliberately clipped a car being chased by officers.
The Melbourne driver says he put the pursued car into a spin after bumping it from the rear in Berwick.
"I was getting me (sic) coffee and he has come flying past me (so) I jumped in my car and started following him and called triple-zero," Chris told 3AW on Thursday.
The pursued car was eventually abandoned in nearby Narre Warren.
Police arrested one of the men who had allegedly been in the vehicle, a Garfield man, 23, in Berwick over an alleged attempted theft at a car wash.
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Another man is on the run, police say.
Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton cast doubt on Chris' story, saying the air wing had no recollection of the intervention. However he encouraged him to contact investigators.
Mr Ashton said the public getting involved in pursuits is "the last thing we want" as it puts people in danger and can interfere with police planning.
"If people get involved, offenders can take different routes and often different direction to the ones we're trying to get them go down," he told 3AW.
"(The public intervening) can have some problematic consequences."
