Driver, 14, said ‘I’m gonna die’
Leaning back with his legs across his friend, moments after crashing a car down a steep bank, Simon Norris said ‘‘I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die’’.
The 14-year-old’s friend pleaded ‘‘don’t die’’ and told him he loved him, before rushing to home in the rain to get help. By the time help arrived, Simon was dead.
Coroner Marcus Elliot’s findings into the crash found several factors made the crash ‘‘inevitable’’, including Simon’s lack of driving experience – he had never driven on a road before – and the car’s over-inflated tyres on a downhill gravel road.
Simon, who lived in Greymouth, went to a 13-year-old friend’s house in the Grey Valley on March 5, 2021, for a sleepover.
The pair did some jobs for a neighbour the next day, finishing about 5.30pm. The friend’s mother told police she cooked the boys dinner before going to bed about 7pm.
‘‘I told them I was going for a lay down in bed. I told them there were some snacks and food in the fridge, they could play Xbox and watch some movies,’’ she said.
The 13-year-old told police that after his mother went to bed Simon suggested they take his brother’s car for a drive.
The teen claimed he told Simon he did not want to, as he was worried his brother would ‘‘give me a hiding’’.
Simon told him to ‘‘stop being a pussy’’, and was peer-pressuring him, the teen said.
The pair did sneak out, and pushed the car out of the driveway before starting it. It was foggy and raining. The 13-year-old said Simon ‘‘lost control’’ as they drove around a corner, and they went ‘‘flying’’.
‘‘Then when the car crashed, I was just there, his legs were like across me, and he was like leaning back saying ‘I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die’.’’
He told Simon he was going to get help. He grabbed Simon’s phone and tried to call 111, but the phone did not have a sim card, so he walked home to tell his mother what happened.
She told police her son was ‘‘soaking wet’’ and ‘‘crying inconsolably’’.
She went to a neighbour’s home, who went out and found the crash scene. The car was ‘‘totally damaged’’.
The neighbour pulled Simon out of the car and waited for emergency services. They confirmed he was dead.
The 13-year-old told police Simon’s driving initially ‘‘wasn’t that bad’’, and that he was ‘‘just normally cruising’’.
An autopsy found no drugs or alcohol in Simon’s system.
Senior Constable Stephen Lamont, of Tasman police’s serious crash unit, found Simon was driving north on Mai Mai Valley Rd when the car left the road and crashed over a steep embankment.
It rolled several times before landing on its wheels about 16 metres down the slope.
There were no signs of braking, and it appeared neither boy was wearing a seatbelt. No mechanical faults were found with the car, but three tyres were overinflated, which was thought to be a contributing factor.
Lamont said the road was ‘‘typical of unsealed gravel rural roads’’.
Simon was travelling at least 51kph when the car left the road.