KITCHENER, Ont. - Two men left a friend lying on the ground with police in hot pursuit early Sunday after their van was launched from the road and sent flying into a nearby field.

The minivan he had been a passenger in was believed to be stolen, and up until a few moments earlier it had been fleeing a pursuing police cruiser.

The minivan must have been travelling extremely fast, one resident said, because when it hit a slight curve in the road it crossed the centre line, rammed the far curb, and was thrown into the air.

It landed on its roof about 20 metres away, sending glass scattering everywhere. Two of the three men inside scrambled out and took off running.

The third man was found lying outside the van, unable to run, said Kitchener Fire Department Platoon Chief Harry Kalau.

"He was lying on his back beside the vehicle. He was complaining of a sore shoulder," Kalau said.

The man, 29, was taken to hospital and treated for multiple broken bones.

The van's driver was also tracked down and arrested. It wasn't clear Sunday night if the second fugitive had been found.

But it was the final moments leading up to the crash that most interested specialists from the Special Investigations Unit -- agents called in anytime someone dies or is badly hurt as part of a police investigation.

Their investigators spent hours dissecting the high-speed chase, breaking down the chain of events to the smallest detail.

They spent much of the day re-constructing the scene of the dramatic crash, which happened before 5 a.m.

Because of the SIU investigation, local police couldn't say much about the crash. They did say a patrol officer had started chasing the van only a short time earlier, according to Waterloo regional police Insp. Bryan Larkin.

When the vehicle's driver refused to stop, the officer called off the chase in the name of public safety, he said.

By sunrise, SIU officials were arriving on scene. They sent five investigators, three forensic experts and a collision reconstructionist to probe police involvement in the events leading up to the crash.