Nails thrown on road during pursuit

Several vehicles, including a police car, had punctured tyres as Z-shaped nails were dumped on State Highway 1 in Timaru by the occupants of a stolen car being chased by police.

The incident began at 12.30am yesterday with police in Timaru chasing as the ‘‘driver decided to flee’’, a police spokesperson said.

‘‘. . . police followed for a time before standing down, while in Timaru.’’

The vehicle was then spotted by police about 75 kilometres north in the Ashburton area and road spikes were used to stop it on the bridge across the Ashburton River and the two occupants fled on foot, the spokesperson said.

A helicopter and a police dog unit then assisted in locating and arresting a 19-year-old Christchurch woman and a 24-year-old Christchurch man on a number of driving offences related to the incident.

The pair are due to appear Timaru District Court on April 16.

Timaru motorist Joe Hill was one of the motorists to have a tyre punctured by the Z-shaped nails.

He was on his way work when his tyre went flat.

Hill said another motorist had pulled over in front of him and was changing a in tyre as he also had a puncture.

Hill said the other motorist told him there had been a police pursuit in the area.

‘‘I just laughed about it and contacted my boss to tell him I was going to be late for work,’’ Hill said.

In a separate incident before the Timaru pursuit began, Ashburton police were involved in a chase on SH1 about 11.45pm on Sunday.

The driver fled when police attempted to pull the vehicle over.

Police followed for a short time before losing sight of the vehicle at Chertsey. A helicopter assisted inquiries but no-one was located, police said.