Police press charges after dramatic Clem7, rooftop arrests
A man arrested inside the entrance of Brisbane’s Clem7 tunnel and another coaxed down from a rooftop have been charged with more than two dozen offences between them.
Police patrolling Woolloongabba and Annerley on Tuesday afternoon had noticed the pair driving a suspected stolen blue Mercedes on Ipswich Road, near the southern entrance of the tunnel.
Officers had received reports of three vehicles stolen from the same area hours earlier, and were on the lookout.
They located two of the three cars – a white Toyota Camry and a silver BMW – within an hour of receiving the reports, but the Mercedes remained unaccounted for.
Officers suspected the pair, a 25-year-old Inala man and 21-year-old Acacia Ridge man, also stole a black GWM car from an Alpine Crescent address in Chambers Flat shortly before 3pm but soon abandoned the vehicle.
The two men then allegedly returned to the blue Mercedes, after which point they were spotted by the police patrol.
With help from a police helicopter, the dog squad, and tyre spikes, the car was stopped just inside the Clem7 shortly before 4.30pm, and the 25-year-old was taken into custody.
He suffered minor injuries, and was treated at Princess Alexandra Hospital.
The second man allegedly fled into nearby suburban streets in Woolloongabba, near the Norman Hotel.
He then scaled a two-storey house on Mossgrove Street, remaining on the roof for about three hours as police in the street below negotiated with him.
About 7.30pm, the man surrendered, and was also taken to Princess Alexandra Hospital for treatment of minor wounds he had suffered while scrambling through the streets.
Police charged the man arrested in the tunnel with eight offences on Wednesday morning. The second man was charged with 17 offences.
The pair appeared in the Brisbane Arrest Court, and were set to reappear before the courts in January.
Police said investigations were continuing, and expected to press more charges against the pair.
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Catherine Strohfeldt is a reporter at Brisbane Times.Connect via X or email.