Driver critical after crashing into a fence
Neighbours and friends tried to help pull a man from wreckage after an early morning crash in Palmerston North, but he never regained consciousness.
Emergency services were called to the crash in Moray Pl, a small residential street in the suburb of Highbury, at 1.30am on Saturday, police said.
The car crashed into a fence in a 50kmh zone. One person was able to climb out of the wreckage, but was unco-operative when police tried to speak with him. The other was initially trapped in the car, and was in a critical condition when he was taken to Palmerston North Hospital. No other vehicles were involved.
Alana Dempster said the small Honda Civic hatchback made a ‘‘horrendous bang’’ when it smashed into her fence.
‘‘The man next door heard the skids coming from another house down before the crash. [It’s] been sideways from the last part of the corner. With the speed they were going, it’s just crazy. The gear box was split open.’’
The driver’s side smashed into the concrete and wood fence, then turned on its side.
Neighbours came out of surrounding houses to help, and a group who knew the man arrived.
One person managed to reach down to release the trapped man from his seat belt, but then he had slumped to the ground and no-one could reach him. He appeared to be unconscious and bleeding from near his head, Dempster said. When firefighters arrived, they cut the windscreen out to pull him free, before he was taken away on a stretcher. ‘‘It’s only a fence, we can fix it – we hope he can be fixed. He looked young, maybe 18.’’
A police serious crash unit officer told her if the fence had not been reinforced concrete, the car might have ended up coming close to their house.
‘‘Normally, the trampoline’s in that corner. If it was daytime, it would have been horrendous if the kids were out here or the dogs even,’’ Dempster said.
The serious crash unit is investigating.