A MAGISTRATE has issued an arrest warrant for a learner driver who led police on a pursuit at Maitland before crashing through a fence, careering through a backyard and colliding with a police car.
Alexander Lyall, 18, was a no-show in Maitland Local Court on Wednesday and was convicted in his absence of a number of charges, including police pursuit, reckless driving, learner driver unaccompanied and resisting arrest.
Magistrate John Chicken heard and determined the charges and ordered an arrest warrant for Lyall when he had failed to appear in court by 4pm.
Police said they were patrolling Rutherford about 1.35am on April 28 when they spotted a Hyundai Tucson on Harvey Road.
After the Hyundai turned onto the New England Highway, police attempted to stop the car, but Lyall took off, triggering a pursuit through a number of Maitland suburbs.
At the end of Wallace Street at South Maitland, the Hyundai drove through a timber fence, careered through the backyard of a home on Anzac Street before colliding with a police car on Bloomfield Street, police said.
Lyall got out and ran away before he was arrested by police after a short struggle.
He suffered minor injuries and was taken to Maitland Hospital for treatment.
During a search of the car, officers located stolen property.
Lyall, who was on bail at the time of the pursuit, was charged and refused bail by police but granted conditional bail in Newcastle Local Court later that day.
Lyall was fined $800 and disqualified from driving for the more minor offences but will have to be arrested and brought to court to be sentenced for the pursuit and crash.
