Fleeing driver crashes into school bus
A driver who crashed into a school bus on a rural Far North road on Thursday afternoon was fleeing police, and wanted for alleged offences involving firearms and violence.
The crash occurred on MatawaiaMaromaku Rd, south of Kawakawa, at about 4.25pm, Senior Sergeant Steve Dickson saying officers initially tried to stop the vehicle due to its speed.
The driver, named as 29-year-old Kaikohe man Quinton Hamilton, refused to stop, and eventually collided with a school bus. There were no children on the bus at the time. The bus driver, who was not injured but was badly shaken, was receiving support.
The driver abandoned the Toyota Camry and tried to escape on foot, but was tracked by a police dog and handler and was arrested in scrub a short distance away. He already had warrants for his arrest on charges relating to alleged violence, firearms and property damage offences.
He appeared in the Kaikohe District Court on Friday and was remanded in custody on charges of dangerous driving, failing to stop for police, failing to ascertain injury after a crash, and two counts of threatening to kill/commit grievous bodily harm. He is due back in court for a bail hearing today.
There were also warrants for his arrest on earlier charges relating to alleged violence, firearms and property damage offences.
Less than half an hour later two Harley Davidson motorcycles and a Nissan car collided on State Highway 12 between O¯ ma¯ pere and Waimamaku. The riders, aged 46 and 56, both from the Mid North, one in a serious condition and the other moderate, were flown in separate helicopters to Whanga¯ rei Hospital. The driver of the car, which had been travelling in the opposite direction to the bikes, suffered minor injuries.
Dickson said police suspected alcohol was a factor for the riders.
Meanwhile, police once again pleaded with Northlanders to stop their mates driving drunk after a 22-year-old Whanga¯ rei Heads man died days after a crash in which alcohol was believed to be the main factor. He had lost control of his car at Tamaterau, on Whanga¯ rei Heads Rd, just after midnight on September 12, the vehicle rolling some 25m.
He was flown to Auckland City Hospital in a critical condition, and died there on Thursday.
His death took Northland’s road toll so far this year to 21, the same as this time last year, despite a drop in the national toll due to the Covid19 lockdown. Seven of those deaths have been in the Far North.
Dickson said this was another fatality in which alcohol was “a big factor”.
”We need the community to play their part,” he said. “If you’re going to be drinking, have a plan before you start. If someone you know is about to drive while intoxicated or impaired by drugs, stop them. Offer them a bed or a couch for the night, call a taxi, find a sober friend . . . do whatever it takes to stop people driving drunk.”
Such deaths were totally preventable and unnecessary, he added. Speed was also a likely factor, given that the crash happened in a 50km/h zone.