A TEENAGER was abandoned by his friends and left to die after a road smash which also left two police officers injured.

Three male passengers of the Peugeot 309, driven by 19-year-old Karl Sutcliffe, fled the scene after the car crashed into a marked police BMW on the A689 at Coundon, near Bishop Auckland, County Durham.

The impact late on Monday night wrecked the Peugeot and sent the police car spiralling out of control before it came to rest on a lamp post.

Debris from the crash was scattered for 100 yards and the road was closed for almost nine hours.

Mr Sutcliffe, of Walker Drive, Woodhouse Close Estate, Bishop Auckland, was flung from the vehicle on to the road. He was certified dead at the scene by a police surgeon.

PC Neil Fuller, 27, a passenger in the police car, was trapped in the wreckage for 45 minutes before being cut free by firefighters.

He was taken to Darlington Memorial Hospital by ambulance with leg injuries. He was released later yesterday.

The police car driver, PC Gary Emerson, 41, was also taken to hospital but released after treatment for shock and bruising.

One of the young men travelling in the Peugeot surrendered himself to police at Bishop Auckland police station yesterday morning and was due to be interviewed late yesterday afternoon.

A full scale investigation has been launched into the accident.

Detective Chief Inspector Bruce Turnbull, who is leading the inquiry, has promised Mr Sutcliffe's family that the fullest inquiry would be carried out to establish exactly what happened.

He said the Peugeot had inexplicably emerged from the Eldon Lane junction on to the main A689 and into the path of the police car.

The BMW had been travelling towards Rushyford when the police officers spotted two suspicious cars travelling in the opposite direction, he said.

They turned their vehicle to follow them and seconds later collided with the Peugeot.

"In addition to the two occupants of the Peugeot, we would clearly like to speak to the occupants of the two cars heading in the direction of Bishop Auckland," said Det Chief Insp Turnbull.

The site where the accident happened has already been labelled an accident blackspot and had been the subject of improvements in recent weeks.

Details of the accident have been referred by Durham Constabulary to the Police Complaints Authority, which will oversee the inquiry and has agreed the appointment of Det Chief Insp Turnbull to lead the investigation