Bay yesterday.

Shortly after 1.30 p.m., Police collared a 27-year-old Southampton man on Cottage Lane who had rammed a Police cruiser, van, and motorcycle with a stolen Mazda 323 sports coupe.

The man had stolen a second car earlier in the day and damaged six vehicles in all, five of them belonging to Police, Insp. Roseanda Jones said in a news release.

A witness said he spotted the new, bright red Mazda speeding east on North Shore Road, hotly pursued by three Police vehicles.

The driver made a sudden turn onto Cottage Hill Road in Hamilton Parish, said the witness, who did not want to be identified. Police missed the turn and were forced to back up and turn to continue the pursuit.

That gave the man enough time to hide the car in a tiny lane off Cottage Hill Lane, the witness said. Police "went searching around for about 15 minutes,'' he said. "Then, when he figured they had given up the search, he emerged from his hiding spot, not knowing there was one more vehicle in the immediate area''.

In an effort to get away from that Police vehicle and get back to North Shore Road, the man in the Mazda rammed a cruiser parked on Cottage Hill, he said.

He then drove over a foot-high wall to get around the cruiser, only to come up against a Police motorcycle blocking another stretch of the road.

As Police deserted the bike, "he rammed that,'' the witness said. "He continued on another 50 yards, and there was a Police van near North Shore. He rammed that, and he sent that Police van up onto the bank.'' The car, however, was left perpendicular to the road, sandwiched between two low walls. "From what I heard, as soon as he tried to get out of the car, he was apprehended on the spot,'' the witness said.

Nobody was injured.

Police said the full story began at about 10.30 a.m., when a white Nissan Sunny car that had been reported stolen was spotted by Police. "This car was believed to have been removed overnight from a car compound off Bakery Lane, Pembroke,'' Insp. Jones said.

"The driver of this removed car (believed to be the same man who later took the Mazda) led Police on a chase up to St. Monica's Road, where he abandoned the vehicle and fled on foot. This car was recovered intact.'' The man is expected to appear in Magistrates' Court soon and face several charges.

Police are still appealing for help in finding two cars reported stolen. The first, a white Nissan four-door saloon, disappeared from Church Street in Hamilton last Wednesday, December 14. Its licence plate number is 18146.

The second, reported missing on Monday, was a white Daihatsu Feroza jeep, registration number 28684.

Anyone with information about these two thefts is asked to call the Police at 295-0011.