Crash victim would ‘always’ drink and drive: wife
A drunk driver died in Napier after attempting to run down the people who tried to prevent him from getting in his car.
Yesterday, coroner Tim Scott released his findings into Matthew Kyte’s death on September 15 last year. Scott said he had not seen driving like it in his 30 years as a coroner.
On that day, Kyte, 36, attended a family barbecue in the Napier suburb of Greenmeadows.
About 7.30pm, Kyte, who had drunk three large beers, went into Napier to drop off his brother.
‘‘Sadly, it seems to me that, even at that early stage, Matt had far too much to drink to be a safe driver and I think every effort should have been made to prevent him driving then,’’ Scott wrote.
After dropping off his brother, Kyte met his wife Holly at a bar, where they both had a drink. At first things went well, however they later became upset and left.
Holly told the police later that Kyte had ‘‘always been a binge drinker’’, and could drink 24 beers within a couple of hours, and ‘‘always’’ drank and drove.
About 9.30pm Kyte was refused entry to another bar as he was wearing work boots. He went next door to another bar, but was asked to leave at 11pm as he was getting too intoxicated.
At a separate Napier bar later on, the doorman said he remembered Kyte being ‘‘inebriated’’ about 1.30am.
A woman at the bar with him said Kyte was drunk. When the bar closed, he accused her of stealing his car, despite it being around the corner.
The woman walked to the car with Kyte and another man. She took his keys away when she realised he intended to drive. Kyte then pushed her and grabbed the keys back.
Kyte then got in the car, did a U-turn, and drove towards the woman and the other man, nearly hitting them.
‘‘Had Matt survived, this sort of driving would have resulted in serious police charges – possibly attempted murder,’’ Scott wrote.
The pair rushed to a nearby service station to phone police.
While they were there Kyte drove through the station ‘‘at speed’’, with the woman yelling at two girls to get out of the way to avoid being hit.
Not long after, Kyte lost control of his vehicle. It crashed into a tree and ended up on its roof. Kyte died at the scene.
A blood test analysis found he had 246 milligrams of alcohol for every 100mg of blood, five times the limit of 50mg.
‘‘It is quite obvious what caused the crash. Matt was grossly intoxicated. He should not have been anywhere near a vehicle unless it was as a passenger,’’ Scott wrote.
‘‘I have been a coroner for over 30 years yet I struggle to recall – and I don’t think I can recall – any example of driving which even came close to what I have encountered here.’’
The only real opportunity to stop him driving was before he became intoxicated, when he left the barbecue, he wrote. ‘‘Sadly, that opportunity was lost.’’