Footage circulated on social media showed a man in a beige shirt and cap (Representational)Sydney: An Australian man rammed his four-wheel drive into a Sydney police car, hijacked a supermarket delivery truck and taxi, rammed other cars and stabbed and wounded a passerby before killing himself in front of police on Friday.The dramatic chain of events, which police said was not terror-related, began when police tried to pull over four-wheel drive for not displaying licence plates.The driver rammed police car, dumped four-wheel drive and hijacked a supermarket delivery truck about 7 km away, then continued across town for another 20 km to a suburb near airport, hitting several cars along way.The driver, 24, tried to steal another car, stabbing a passerby who tried to stop him, before stealing a taxi.

Police finally stopped attacker in taxi and tried to Taser him, but man stabbed himself in chest and died at scene."The offender wasn't trying to intentionally harm people," Acting Assistant Commissioner Mick Fitzgerald told reporters in Sydney."It was a man who was attempting to do everything he could to avoid arrest.

His actions, in particular actions when he stabbed innocent person, (are) actions of a person who we believe had mental health problems."Police did not identify attacker or give further details.

Fitzgerald said man was known to police and did not have a significant criminal history.Footage circulated on social media showed a man in a beige shirt and cap gesturing for a taxi driver to get out of his car, then getting in and driving red taxi away.The Australian Associated Press quoted a tradesman who witnessed first stabbing, Chris Burton, as saying attacker looked "crazy and frazzled"."He goes to guy, 'stab me, stab me, stab me' and stuck his neck out," AAP quoted witness as saying.The passerby who was stabbed was in a serious but stable condition in hospital, police said.

Media reported that a woman was also stabbed in melee but police did not confirm a second stabbing.A staunch U.S.

ally, Australia has been on alert for militant attacks after a Sydney cafe siege in 2014 and its intelligence agencies have stepped up scrutiny.In November, a man set fire to a pickup truck laden with gas cylinders in Melbourne and stabbed three people, killing one, before being shot by police.

Police described that rampage as an act of terrorism.(Except for headline, this story has not been edited by TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)