Witnesses of a bizarre incident in Surrey that left a driver in hospital with serious injuries and prompted an internal police investigation say the victim was in obvious distress leading up to his arrest.

Surrey RCMP responded to the Claytonwood Grove area around 9:30 p.m. Sunday night after receiving a 911 call about a man repeatedly honking a horn. The car sped off when they approached. The 30-year-old driver was found to be in medical distress when he was located several blocks away and taken into custody.

The force has asked investigators of the Vancouver Police Major Crime section to investigate the incident. Both departments have not said publically what happened to the driver.

Area resident Frank Dewar said he came outside of his home to find a man extremely upset behind the wheel of a car parked near the end of his driveway.

"[He was] yelling, screaming and honking his horn. He was yelling ‘get me out of here, get me out of here,'" Dewar told CTV News.

His wife, Pat, says her husband couldn't get inside the vehicle to help the obviously distressed man.

"They couldn't get into the car. He wouldn't roll down the window -- they wouldn't open the doors so I came back in," she said.

That's when Pat called 911.

The Dewars say when the man sped off when police arrived, but not before hitting a nearby fence on his way.

"He wiped half the fence out," Frank Dewar said.

The car made its way into a nearby cul-de-sac and ended up crashing onto somebody's lawn, they said.

Neighbour Oliver Villagran said there was a big commotion in the neighbourhood when police caught up to the man.

"We heard police saying ‘get out of the car, get out of the car' and soon after that yelling, screaming,'" he said.

Victoria McKinnon says she came outside to see a man on the ground and police doing CPR.

"They were flashing the light in his eyes and saying ‘can you hear me? Can you hear me?'" McKinnon said.

RCMP say it was when they took the man into custody they noticed he was in medical distress. The driver still remains in hospital.

"There are no obvious signs of injury or trauma," Vancouver Police Const. Lindsey Houghton said Monday.

The Vancouver Police Department has taken over the investigation. The B.C. Police Act stipulates that outside police agencies are to conduct the investigation of all serious incidents involving people who are suffering, or potentially suffering from serious injuries, while in police custody, Houghton said.

Part of the department's investigation will include speaking to RCMP officers involved and whether the man was in serious condition before or after he was honking his horn.

"They will be going through all of the notes, all of the reports, and speaking with the officers and following up," Houghton said.

Oliver Villagran is just happy the incident didn't happen earlier, when children were playing outside.

"The scary part for us is the kids were out three hours earlier. If it had have been earlier – if he had have taken a right who knows what would have happened?" he said.

With a report from CTV British Columbia's Maria Weisgarber