Man is medically assessed after ‘going on rampage in Brisbane’s southside’

A man has been arrested after he allegedly tried to set fire to a service station and attempted several carjackings on Brisbane’s southside on Sunday.

The drama began at 9am when the driver of a Blue Commodore clipped a woman while driving into a Shell petrol station on Mains Road at Sunnybank.

He then threatened staff and demanded cigarettes inside the building, before pouring fuel from a bowser onto the ground and setting it alight.

The staff were able to put out the blaze, but the man drove off.

After fleeing the scene, the man crashed his Commodore into a stationary vehicle at the intersection of Kessels Road.

Fifteen minutes later, his Commodore crashed into a stationary vehicle at the intersection of Kessels Road.

The driver then allegedly  attempted to carjack two separate vehicles whose drivers had locked their doors.

The man then jumped into a HiAce van whose 70-year-old driver had stopped to get out and help.

The older man was joined by the 70-year-old male driver of one of the other threatened cars, and the pair of them dragged the alleged offender out of the van.

The man struck a dog squad officer who joined in the fight to subdue him; eventually another police officer and a member of the public joined in to get him under control.

Inspector Geoff Acreman said he had been using a metal mug as a makeshift knuckle duster.

The suspect arrived at a Shell petrol station on Mains Road at Sunnybank where he allegedly threatened staff and demanded cigarettes inside the building, before pouring fuel from a bowser onto the ground and setting it alight

‘At this stage of the game there is something not quite right there, this behaviour is quite irrational,’ he said.

‘He has been taken to the hospital for examination, and we’ll obviously be looking at that much further down the track.’

No charges have yet been laid, and no one else involved suffered injuries.