Fleeing from police ends in tragedy

All five people involved in a crash yesterday that killed two during a police chase were believed to be friends, Auckland police said.

A car carrying five people slammed into a tree in the suburb of St Lukes around 1am yesterday, during the police pursuit.

Detective Inspector Scott Beard said it was too early to say if alcohol was involved with the smash, which also left three males, including the driver, with serious injuries.

The dead were a 25-year-old woman and a 29-year-old man. Both were from Auckland and were rear seat passengers.

The three men remain in Auckland City Hospital in serious condition, Beard said.

There was no indication the vehicle was stolen, he said.

Police initially spotted the vehicle speeding at about 130kmh in an 80kmh zone on the nearby northwestern motorway.

Once a police motorway patrol car caught up to the vehicle, a pursuit began, he said.

The vehicle left the motorway at St Lukes Rd and while overtaking another vehicle opposite the Kings Plant Barn

‘‘We need to stop people fleeing from police – it’s a risk to communities, passengers and police staff, we now have two families suffering tragedy.’’ Detective Inspector Scott Beard

crashed into the tree near the road’s intersection with Asquith Ave.

Beard said the police car was about 300 metres behind the fleeing vehicle when the crash happened.

‘‘Police have had to deal with the consequences of the car spinning out of control into a tree,’’ Beard said.

‘‘We need to stop people fleeing from police – it’s a risk to communities, passengers and police staff, we now have two families suffering tragedy.’’

The woman died at the scene while the man died at Auckland Hospital, Beard said.

The car, a silver VW Golf hatchback, was removed from the scene about 6am.

Little remained at the crash scene by daybreak on Monday, except crash debris and skid marks on the grass.

Faint tyre marks were visible on the grass verge leading up to the tree while a large slab of bark about two metres high was scoured from the tree.

The Serious Crash Unit was investigating and the crash had also been referred to the IPCA. Initially six ambulances were sent to the crash scene, a St John Ambulance spokesman said.

A nearby resident said he saw paramedics take turns performing CPR on a motionless body in the middle of St Lukes Rd following the crash.

He said he heard sirens followed by a ‘‘loud thump’’.

‘‘There was no racing car engine or brakes or anything like that; it didn’t sound like they hit the brakes at any stage.’’

He said the car hit the tree then spun around before coming to a halt facing oncoming traffic.

The witness, who preferred to remain anonymous, said there were about six police cars and an ambulance on the scene within about 10 minutes.

‘‘They had six people doing CPR on a guy in the middle of the road but he wasn’t moving . . . as soon as they got to him they were doing really heavy chest compressions.

‘‘They were working on him for a good amount of time.’’

There was another person further down on the grass in the recovery position being attended to by one paramedic, he said.

Beard said police would still like to speak to any witnesses of the pursuit.

Witnesses can call Auckland Central Police Station on 09 302 6400.

This was the second fatal crash involving a police chase in Auckland this month.

On October 9, south Auckland teen Morocco Tai died after the car he was driving ploughed into a tree following a brief police chase in O¯ tara.

Three youths including Tai, 15, were in the stolen car.

Tai had earlier been a passenger in a stolen car which was driven the wrong way on a busy motorway.

Police would not comment on how Tai came to be behind the wheel so soon after the motorway incident.

For the motorway chase and related incidents, Tai had been charged with aggravated robbery, endangering transport and aiding a driver in a dangerous matter.