Tractor thief stays well within speed limit
It could be New Zealand’s slowest police pursuit.
Instead of dangerous speeds exceeding 100km/h, it was a more leisurely affair when a tractor, fixed with a grader blade and counterweights on the front, was stolen and driven along State Highway 1 — reaching a top speed of 12km/h.
After a 90-minute low-speed chase in Northland that eventually involved three police vehicles, the tractor driver was tasered and handcuffed on the footpath in Wellsford, 20km from Kaiwaka, where it started. Normally the trip down SH1 takes about 24 minutes.
The Kubota B2710 was stolen from a shed at the Kaiwaka Sports Association complex, where Mark Ottaway works as groundsman, in the early hours of Sunday.
Ottaway and his wife, Pam, were woken by fire engine sirens and looked out the window just as the tractor was driving by. After a quick check of the shed at the sports club they were hot on the tractor’s trail.
“When we caught up he had the lights on [and] hazards going but he was only going 12km/h.”
Just north of Te Hana, a police vehicle joined the chase.
“There were lights and sirens and he still wouldn’t pull over. He was swerving all over the road.”
Two more police vehicles joined in and the chase ended in Wellsford where an officer tasered the driver.
A 15-year-old boy has been referred to Youth Aid.
— Northern Advocate