DAYTON, OHIO (Reuters) - Two children were killed and at least 10 people injured, including other children, on Monday (Aug 26) in a multi-vehicle crash involving a stolen police car in Dayton, Ohio, police said.

The incident started with a reported stabbing in Dayton, police said, and a pickup truck crash in the Dayton suburb of Riverside at about 7.30 pm.

Apparently, the suspect in the reported stabbing fled that scene and then crashed a pickup into a tree in the bordering Dayton suburb of Riverside, police said.

While Riverside police were looking for the driver of the crashed truck, the suspect jumped into a Riverside Police sports utility vehicle, threw it into reverse and sped off, the Dayton Daily News and other media reported.

The man then sped back into Dayton in the stolen police vehicle 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 the children screaming in the wrecked van, with car parts strewn across the street, the newspaper and other media reported.

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 late night news briefing. Among the injured were three children with life-threatening injuries, he said.

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

It all happened very quickly, police said.

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

"Obviously, this is a tragic incident that occurred in a very short time frame," Henderson said.

The names, conditions and ages of the others injured were not released.

The suspect, who was arrested at the scene, is among the injured, police said, but his name and other details were not available early Tuesday.