A family in Wyndham Vale had a traumatic start on Thursday morning.
A father had just buckled his five year old daughter into the back seat around 6.30am this morning when an unidentified man got into the car and drove off with it.
His accomplice then followed this black BMW on Kinglake Drive in a separate white Toyota Supra, Police said.
Around 50 police officers, police dogs and a helicopter were chasing this BMW which was spotted about 40 kms away in Geelong just after 7am.
The police pursuit ended with the black BMW crashing into the corner of Melbourne Road and Swallow Crescent.
An eye witness Kylie Henwood told the ABC, "I saw the little girl and she was so shaken, so scared.”
"They got the child from the car and about half an hour later the dad arrived. He hugged her straight away and was quite sad."
Superintendent Craig Gillard told the ABC the incident was "traumatic".
"I shudder to think about what they're [the child and parents] both going through," he said.
"I can only surmise that it's an opportunist theft. This is a very serious offence which could've had potentially a very serious outcome.
"We've got one of the most serious child-stealing offences you could think of. And a seriously traumatised child and parent."
