SEABROOK — An attempted traffic stop Friday night led to a high-speed chase up Route 1, a cruiser crash in North Hampton and the arrest of three women in Portsmouth.

Seabrook Deputy Chief Lee Bitomske said the department is not releasing the name of the officer involved, since the accident is still under investigation by the New Hampshire State Police. However, Bitomske said the officer involved was released with minor injuries from Portsmouth Hospital Friday night.

Bitomske said the 2008 Ford Crown Victoria police cruiser sustained substantial damage to the front driver's side and had to be towed back to the police station.

"To me, the cruiser looks like they could total it," Bitomske said.

Seabrook became involved after an attempted police stop, he said.

"It's my understanding our officer tried to pull the vehicle over in Seabrook on Route 1 for a motor vehicle infraction, and the driver took off up Route 1, and the chase ensued," Bitomske said yesterday. "This all started at about 10 minutes past 8."

Seabrook chased the vehicle through Hampton Falls and was in North Hampton when a three-vehicle crash occurred at the intersection of routes 1 and 111.

According to N.H. state police Sgt. Gary Wood, the accident involved two vehicles and the cruiser.

"We're still reconstructing the accident, but it appeared the accident was right in the intersection," Wood said. "A pickup truck and the cruiser collided, then the vehicle rolled into another vehicle on Atlantic Avenue (Route 111). The Seabrook officer had minor injuries, I believe, but I don't think anyone else was hurt."

Wood said the cause of the accident is unknown, pending reconstruction and further investigation. He said the vehicle being chased was not involved in the accident, but continued to speed up Route 1.

Speeds reached about 100 mph, Portsmouth police Lt. Rodney McQuate said yesterday. Portsmouth police picked up the chase when Portsmouth Lt. Russell Russo noticed a vehicle with no lights on zip past him at a high rate of speed while he was at the corner of Ocean Road and Route 1.

Officers lost sight of the car for a time when the car turned off Route 1 in Portsmouth onto Elwyn Road (Route 1A), but they soon found it again in the woods.

"It looked like she just drove it off the road," Wood said. "She narrowly missed a utility pole."

The women left the vehicle, and two fled into the woods. One woman was arrested outside the car almost immediately, McQuate said, but it took almost two hours of searching with police dogs in the woods off Route 1A to find and arrest the others, McQuate said. Kittery police officer John Usher and his bloodhound K-9 partner tracked the two other women, finding them hiding in a porch of a home in the Tucker Cove subdivision off Route 1A, McQuate said.

Arrested was the car's driver, Jacqueline Trottman, 42, of 3 Stockton St., Dorchester, who is charged with driving after license suspension, conduct after an accident, resisting arrest, disobeying an officer, possession of narcotics (crack cocaine) and possession of drugs in a motor vehicle.

Also arrested were Linda Estrella, 43, 15 Chase St., Cambridge, who was charged with resisting arrest and possession of crack cocaine, and Monique Sadberry, 39, 12 Marcella St., Roxbury, charged with filing a false report with police and possession of crack cocaine.

McQuate said the women told Portsmouth police they had been smoking crack and marijuana.

"The driver told us they were shopping in Seabrook and had gone to a couple of stores there," McQuate said. "Then when they were driving, one of the women lit up a crack pipe and the next thing (the driver) knew, there were blue lights in her rearview mirror. She told us she just decided she wasn't going to go to jail."

McQuate said police found about $4,000 in cash in the vehicle and the investigation is ongoing, with the possibility more charges could be brought. He added that all three women had extensive criminal histories.

The women were arraigned at Portsmouth District Court yesterday and are each being held on $25,000 cash bail.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.