Subscribe to RSSOnehunga Chase: Govt Message
Transport minister Steven Joyce today reminded the country’s young drivers of the consequences of trying to evade the law.
He was speaking at the opening of the Onehunga train station, a short distance from where a fatal car crash happened last night involving a car full of young peopel fleeing from the police.
This afternoon police arrested a 20 year-old Mangere East man who will appear in the Auckland District Court on Monday charged with two counts of manslaughter.
A 20 year-old woman – Jaycherree Penelope Makakea – and 20 year-old Joseph Jack Tawhai, both of Mangere East, died at the crash scene at about 9pm last night when the car they were in was fleeing from police.
The minister said he couldn’t speak about the specifics of the incident but did want to send a general message to young drivers:
Police earlier said that last night around 8.49 pm they were called to the Queenstown Road overbridge in Onehunga. This was in relation to a report of a person shining a red laser beam onto motorists travelling on the Mangere Bridge motorway.
Arriving at this location a Police patrol observed a vehicle containing 5 people speeding away from the area. This Police patrol pursued this vehicle for less than 2 minutes with their red and blue lights and siren activated.
The Police officers then saw the vehicle go through a red traffic light at high speed. As a result of this dangerous driving the patrol abandoned the pursuit by pulling over to the side of the road and turning off their lights and sirens.
The vehicle has continued driving at speed for a further 170 metres. It then appears that the vehicle has clipped a roundabout on Church Street, Onehunga. The vehicle has then continued a further 20 metres where it has collided with light pole and crashed into a power pole. The vehicle was found by Police on its roof.
The person driving the vehicle got out and ran from the scene. Two occupants were transported to hospital where they are being treated for moderate injuries. The remaining two occupants of the vehicle died at the scene.
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4 Comments
“As a result of this dangerous driving the patrol abandoned the pursuit by pulling over to the side of the road and turning off their lights and sirens”
This is exactly the message police wants to avoid giving. People who run from police will attempt to drive as dangerously as possible to encourage police to call off the chase. Lets hope no innocent people get killed because of this message.
How do the drivers of these things always seem to survive? They deserve it least.
Also agree with Scott. If running red lights at speed is what it takes to shake a police pursuit, we’re doomed.
At this rate we should not have that many left who think they can get away, they are making sure of that. Bunch of idiots.
What if these guys shone the laser into a driver’s eye and the innocent driver had a fatal accident???
During my time with the Fire Service, I attended many, many fatal crashes where the driver apparently at fault survived while the nascent innocent party died. It’s particularly common for the driver in multiple-occupant vehicles to survive at the expense of passengers.
I was two streets, maybe 500m in a straight line, from the scene and heard it clearly. We thought it might’ve been roofing iron being torn off a building, given the very stiff wind at the time, and it wasn’t until I left to go home and saw the road closure at Galway/Church that we realised it was more serious.