Victim was mourning friend
A man killed in a Christchurch hit-and-run had only hours earlier attended his friend’s funeral.
Steffan Pearce-Loe, 30, was hit by a car as he walked his dogs near the Gayhurst Rd bridge, about 2.30am on Thursday. He died overnight on Friday.
Former Christchurch Mayor Garry Moore paid tribute to Pearce-Loe in the latest edition of his weekly newsletter for the Tuesday Club. The club, based at Smash Palace bar, is a forum for residents to listen to and engage with the city’s innovators and leaders.
Moore said Pearce-Loe, a former cycle courier, would regularly attend Smash Palace with his colleagues. On Wednesday night, he went to the bar after attending a friend’s funeral.
‘‘He caught a Uber home. He then took his dogs out for a walk. Somebody ran over him during that walk and left him dying on the road,’’ Moore wrote.
Pearce-Loe had recently purchased a home with his partner, he said.
‘‘[He was] a young man who had life by the throat. He was part of our wha¯nau. We mourn the loss of a bloody good bloke.’’
Sub60 couriers South Island regional manager Carl Dyet said Pearce-Loe worked as a cycle courier for the company for about
12 months before leaving in September 2015. ‘‘He was a very laid back, easy going character. Easy for anyone to get along with and would do anything for you.’’
Detective Senior Sergeant Greg Cottam said the car involved in the hit-and-run was found by an ‘‘eagle-eyed’’ detective’’ parked in a driveway several kilometres away.
He said after reviewing CCTV footage, the investigation was focused on a particular type of car.
‘‘Following good old-fashioned police work, an eagle-eyed detective saw a vehicle matching the description with damage consistent with the crash in the driveway of an address several kilometres away from the scene.’’
The vehicle was seized under a search warrant with a forensic examination under way.
Cottam said the car’s owner had been interviewed and was helping police with ongoing inquiries. A decision on charges would be made ‘‘in due course’’.
Cottam said earlier a postmortem showed Pearce-Loe died as a result of a head injury ‘‘consistent with being struck by a motor vehicle’’. A preliminary reconstruction of Pearce-Loe’s final movements indicated he was crossing the road at the time, but it remained unclear whether he was travelling east-to-west or west-to-east.
The vehicle involved would have been travelling north when it hit Pearce-Loe, Cottam said.
‘‘This tragic death serves as a timely reminder that drivers need to take due care when driving at night; and that it is a driver’s responsibility when involved in a crash to stop, ascertain what has happened, and provide assistance to any injured person.’’