At least 10 people were injured and 2 children died, Dayton police said. (Representational)

Two children were killed and at least 10 people injured, including other children, on Monday in a multi-vehicle crash involving a stolen police car in Dayton, Ohio, police said.

The crash began with a reported stabbing in Dayton, police said, and a pickup truck accident in the Dayton suburb of Riverside at about 7:30 p.m. Apparently, the suspect in the reported stabbing fled that scene and then crashed the pickup, police said.

While Riverside police were looking for the driver of the crashed truck, the suspect, who was still on the scene, jumped into a Riverside police sports utility vehicle.

Witnesses saw an officer have a brief struggle with the man and the officer may have used a taser on the suspect before he threw the SUV into reverse and drove off, the Dayton Daily News and other media reported.

The man drove the stolen police vehicle back into Dayton and hit at least three occupied vehicles, including a van loaded with children, before wrecking the SUV near the Dayton Metro Library, police said.

Witnesses heard screams and rushed to the wrecked van, the Daily News and other media reported.

Some passersby tried to get as many children as they could out of the van, but some children were pinned in the wreckage.

At least 10 people were injured and two children died, Dayton police Major Eric Henderson said in a news briefing. Among the injured were three children with life-threatening injuries, he said.

Police said 11 people were in the van, including seven children: one in a car seat, one in a booster seat, one in the front, two in the middle and two in the rear.

About 12 minutes passed between the pickup crash in Riverside and the fatal wreck in Dayton, police said.

The names, conditions and ages of the injured were not released. Among them was the suspect, who was arrested at the scene, police said, but his name and other details were not available early Tuesday.