A high speed Police chase through three parishes ended with the car being pursued smashing into a ?paddy wagon? in Pembroke yesterday.

The Rover car ? which had been reported stolen ? was being tailed by up to 40 police officers at the height of the chase according to witnesses who compared it to a scene from an action movie.

Its path was blocked by a Police Toyota Land Cruiser in Cemetery Road, which it ploughed into and came to a halt. Three men aged in their 30s were detained at the scene, with one taken to hospital for checks.

A Police spokesman said the incident unfolded after reports of burglaries in Pembroke. A motorcycle officer on duty in Paynters Road in Smith?s Parish then spotted the reportedly stolen Rover travelling west along that road at around 1.20 p.m.

?The Police officer followed the vehicle at a distance along Harrington Sound Road, through Devil?s Hole and then onto South Road. The car stopped in the area of Watch Hill Park. The officer approached the vehicle and told the driver to turn off the car?s engine, which he did. However, as the officer got off his Police motorcycle the driver started the car and drove off at high speed,? he said.

The resulting 25-minute chase took Police on a lengthy route from Smith?s through Devonshire and Pembroke. The pursuit first led officers along South Road, up Tee Street, Orange Valley Road, Palmetto Road, Dock Hill, North Shore Road, and Spanish Point Road. It continued along St John?s Road, Pitts Bay Road, Addendum Lane, Bakery Lane and Serpentine Road before ending in the crash on Cemetery Road at 1.45 p.m.

Carmella Francoeur, a Canadian on vacation in Bermuda, witnessed the incident from her daughter?s home on Woodlands Road. She told : ?There were a lot of Police cars with their lights and sirens on. They were going in all directions. There was a loud crash and then we saw the guys come out of the car. It was like a movie.?

Mrs. Francoeur, 70, from Toronto, said the paddy wagon had been used to block the Rover, and that one occupant of the car appeared ?either scared or stunned? after the crash.

She added that Police officers involved in the lengthy chase celebrated after finally managing to stop the car.

?They were very enthusiastic and overjoyed when it was stopped. They gave each other high fives and were really happy,? she said.

Her daughter Helen Muir, 51, said the Rover had not appeared to slow down before the crash into the Police vehicle. ?It just smacked straight into it,? she said.

Arnold Landy, 47, from Paget, was just metres from the collision. He estimated that up to 20 Police vehicles ? motorcycles, cars and vans ? were involved in the chase.

?One Police vehicle went through at about 60 miles an hour (96 kph) and the others were doing around 40.

?Ace boy (the car driver) was doing 35-40. He saw the Police Toyota and started swerving to get around him. If he had got on the sidewalk he would have got away,? he said.

No Police officers were injured, and the condition of the man taken to hospital was not thought to be serious.

The spokesman said the driver of the Rover was a 30-year-old man from Devonshire and his passengers were a 33-year-old from Devonshire and a 30-year-old Pembroke man.

He was unable to say which of the men was the injured party, how many Police were involved in the chase or what speeds were reached.

Officers investigating the collision cordoned off part of Cemetery Road for around 70 minutes before the damaged vehicles were towed away.

A number of senior officers visited the scene including Commissioner George Jackson, and the services of a sniffer dog and photographer were used during the examination of the car.

Inquiries were said to be continuing yesterday evening.