‘Somebody had to stop him’
‘Vigilante’ charged after ramming driver
Avigilante has been charged after smashing his daughter’s car into another vehicle in an effort to stop its driver fleeing a suburban street after earlier crashing into a property.
But Michael Head has vowed to fight the dangerous-driving case “come hell or high water” and says he was simply trying to protect his neighbours from a speeding driver who kept driving away and returning to their quiet cul de sac in Maungatapu, Tauranga.
The chain of events that Head described as “craziness” unfolded last Thursday about 5.30pm.
The Tauranga businessman was getting dressed when he heard what turned out to be a Subaru car approaching his Taipari St home.
“I saw this vehicle and thought, ‘Oh my God, what the hell is that coming down our street?’ It just flashed past me. I talked to my neighbours afterwards and we estimate it was going at least 110km/h. He was really flying.”
Head feared the driver would run out of room and “sure enough, he did”.
The driver careered up and over a footpath and into one of the street’s properties, crashing into a tree centimetres from a brick home about 20 metres from the road.
The driver then slowly drove away in his damaged vehicle as worried residents gathered to see what had happened, Head said.
“A couple of minutes later, while we were chatting, well b***** me if he doesn’t come back down the street again. Then he comes back a third time and a fourth time. I’d say he was doing at least 110km/h.”
Head said he called police, who told him they were also receiving calls from at least six other people about the driver, who returned again while Head was on the phone.
“I thought, ‘Why would you come back when you’ve just crashed into someone’s [property]?’ There’s something seriously wrong if you keep coming back where all the neighbours are upset. I thought: ‘This is now getting frightening’.”
Head’s wife and daughters were home and neighbours had become scared because no one could understand the driver’s actions and what he might do next. One neighbour held a 4x2 piece of wood because he had become so incensed, Head said.
“After the fifth time, I thought ‘someone’s got to do something about this. I’ve called the cops, they aren’t here, someone’s got to do something’.”
He admitted he was so intent on trying to contain the situation, he did not consider potential risks such as the driver having a gun.
Head had got behind the wheel of his daughter’s Ford Focus when the man returned a seventh time. Head followed him and rammed his car in an unsuccessful attempt to stop him.
“I thought, ‘I’m going to block him from getting out’. I wanted to stop him from doing any more craziness and . . . hopefully, make him come to his senses. He might have just been able to stop for long enough for the neighbours to say, ‘Oi, you’re not going anywhere’.”
The driver fled and Head drove back home. The impact created about $3000 worth of damage to the Focus.
His daughter, he said, had forgiven him for the damage to her car, which he’d bought her a few weeks ago. His neighbours had also thanked him.
Head said he was surprised when police charged him with dangerous driving later that day.
“All I was doing was trying to protect the neighbours.”
Head is expected to appear in the Tauranga District Court on Monday.
A neighbour said Head had done the right thing. “The way he [the Subaru driver] was driving was extremely erratic and very dangerous.”
The neighbour said he and his wife heard the Subaru speed past before a huge thump.
He and other neighbours ran out to help, thinking there had been an accident, but were surprised to see the damaged car coming back the way it came, before returning again and again.
“Sooner or later some property or person was going to get injured or damaged, who knows? Somebody had to stop him.”
Police eventually found the alleged driver, who initially stopped but then allegedly fled when an officer approached. The vehicle was spiked and a man, 22, was arrested and charged with failing to stop when followed, failing to remain stopped, and careless driving.
He is due in the Tauranga District Court on December 9.