Pub patron lends a hand in crash chase
A BRAVE Townsville resident has told of the moment he helped detain runaway teens after they allegedly emerged from a destroyed stolen car.
Matt Palmer was enjoying his Friday evening at Ross Island Hotel when his night took a drastic turn. “I just heard this massive bang; I knew it was an accident,” Mr Palmer said. Directly outside the pub a stolen Nissan Qashqai had run a red light before colliding with another car and flipping upside down.
“I walked out and saw the kids scrambling out of the car and taking off in every direction,” Mr Palmer said.
“Two took off along the railway tracks towards town high (Townsville State High School).
“A boy in a red shirt kept running along the railway tracks and two other guys from the pub chased him. A girl who was about 15 tried to climb the fence along the railway and that’s when me and another guy grabbed her.”
Mr Palmer said the girl “kept pretty quiet” while they waited for police to arrive.
He said he used the time to give her a few choice words.
“I said to her ‘you’ve left your friends in the car and taken off, good friend you are,” he said.
“She tried to get away twice while we were there, I said ‘don’t ‘ don’t even bother’.”
Mr Palmer said police came and took the girl into custody after about 10 minutes.
He said it was a miracle the juveniles weren’t badly hurt, or worse, in the crash.
“They were damn lucky; they took out the pole and landed on the roof.”
Mr Palmer said Townsville’s youth crime problem made him agitated and he wasn’t hopeful it would come to an end anytime soon. “There was a fair bit of anger at the pub when I got back with the girl, q quite a few blokes were p pretty upset,” he said. “I k know plenty of people who have had their cars pinched. It hasn’t happened to me yet, thankfully. But I finish work at 1am and you’ve got to have your wits about you driving home.
“I hope I don’t see something like that again but you can’t guarantee that will be the case the way it’s been going.”