Police chase fleeing car for an hour
An hour-long police pursuit ended yesterday with the driver escaping from his crushed car, jumping over a fence and running across railway tracks chased by police dogs.
Police saw a white Holden Commodore, believed to be driven by a man who had several warrants to arrest, in Tauranga at 2.40pm. They tracked him to the Pyes Pa area and tried to pull him over but he fled and the Armed Offenders Squad was called as a precaution.
Police say they followed the driver through Oropi, back to Tauranga, then over the Kaimai Range and into the Matamata-Piako District before spikes were laid at the intersection of SH27 and SH29 in Hinuera at 3.53pm.
A Hinuera resident, who did not want to be named, said:
“He was going fast, real fast. There’s a power pole right beside that railing fence. So he’s taken out the power pole and the railing fence and gate right beside the road.”
The driver jumped out and ran through a paddock and across the train tracks before police caught him. Police said charges were likely. The chase happened just hours after a report from the Independent Police Conduct Authority found police officers were justified in their handling of a pursuit that ended with a triple fatal crash in Nelson last year.
Officers falsely believed the fleeing car contained wanted violent offender Lewis Popata.
The March 11 crash claimed the lives of Johnathan Tairakena, Phillip Stretch and innocent motorist Carmen Marie Yanko. Yanko, 53, had been travelling to a Sunday market.
The Holden driven by Tairakena had led police on a 6km pursuit before overtaking a truck on State Highway 6 and hitting Yanko’s car.
All three died on impact; the pursuit lasted less than three minutes. Authority chairman Judge Colin Doherty said the pursuit was “properly commenced and conducted safely” in line with police policy.