A man accused of stealing and crashing a police van after going on a 20 minute joy ride has been charged with a string of offences.

Police said officers were responding to reports of a man armed with a knife at Narangba after 3am on Tuesday when they confronted the man.

They used stun guns on the 37-year-old man before he drove off in the police van, which crashed about 20 minutes later at Mango Hill.

He managed to flee the wreck before being arrested nearby.

“I think it is fortunate in the circumstances that … no one was injured,” Inspector Joseph Zitny told reporters on Tuesday.

“It could have been a lot worse.”

The man was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries under police guard before being discharged.

He has been charged with numerous offences including obstructing police, going armed so as to cause fear, unlicensed driving, dangerous operation of a vehicle while adversely affected by an intoxicating substance and wilful damage of police property.

He was denied bail and is expected to appear in Pine Rivers Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

– AAP