Drink-driver flips SUV ‘end over end’
A drink-driver who crashed into a SUV had been drinking tequila, bourbon and beer since 8am, he told police.
William Manaena Kingi, 30, had been drinking at his friend’s place in Havelock, west of Picton, before getting behind the wheel about 1.30pm. He had argued with his partner and his friend and they all got into Kingi’s black Subaru, a police summary said.
He approached the intersection of Wilson St and State Highway 6, and made a right-hand turn into the path of a Ford SUV. The impact of the crash caused the SUV to flip ‘‘end over end’’, sliding to a stop on its roof, in the middle of the intersection of Wilson St and Main Rd.
The SUV was towing a trailer that was sheared from its coupling, and came to rest on the shoulder of the northbound lane, a police summary said. Kingi and the other two people in his car, his partner and a friend, had very minor injuries.
But the driver of the SUV had ongoing pain in his right shoulder. He and his wife had cuts to their stomachs. His wife also had a neck sprain, back sprain, cuts on her legs, elbows and shoulder, and bruises to her upper arm.
Their 9-year-old dog, Xena, in the back seat, fled the wreckage and ran into some scrub beside the road. The bichon cross was found dead five days later in the scrub near the crash site, the summary said.
Kingi gave a breath test reading of 594 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath. The legal limit is 250mcg.
The driver of the SUV sought $1158 in reparation for damage to their trailer and medical expenses.
Kingi, a factory worker of Havelock, admitted dangerous driving and drink-driving causing injury at the Blenheim District Court on Monday. It was his second drinkdriving charge.
Judge Russell ordered a presentencing report, a reparation report, and an alcohol and drug report, and for Kingi’s house to be assessed for an electronicallymonitored sentence.
Kingi was remanded on bail to April 30, with conditions not to drive, and not to consume alcohol or enter licensed premises.