Man ignites car, crashes into Sydney police station garage

SYDNEY, Australia – A man was arrested after igniting accelerant inside his car and crashing it into the gate of a parking garage at a suburban Sydney police station Thursday, police said. There was no indication the incident had any links to terrorism.

The man, in his 60s, suffered serious burns, but no one else was injured, said New South Wales Police Assistant Commissioner Denis Clifford.

The man initially parked his car in the driveway of a police station in the western Sydney suburb of Merrylands. An officer approached the car, and the man then ignited an accelerant — possibly gasoline — before driving the vehicle into the roller door of the station’s parking garage, Clifford said.

“The whole thing happened very quickly,” Clifford told reporters.

Police extinguished the fire and removed the unconscious man from the vehicle. He was in serious condition at a hospital, Clifford said.

Police were still trying to determine the man’s identity and motivation, Clifford said.

“There’s nothing to indicate this is in any way related to terrorism,” Clifford said. “We just don’t know why this person has acted this way.”

A bomb squad was inspecting the vehicle, but there was no further threat to anyone, Clifford said.

“The police reacted very bravely and it’s just a miracle that no one else was seriously injured,” he said.