Car smashes into lounge
Shirlene Roberts was enjoying a quiet Sunday afternoon in lockdown when a speeding driver attempting to evade police slammed into her parked car and sent it crashing into her lounge.
The self-described Taranaki ‘‘senior citizen’’, who lives in a block of flats on Leslie St, Waitara, near the intersection with North St, had been watching television. ‘‘All I heard was the bang,’’ Roberts said.
‘‘I didn’t see what happened because I was lying on my bed and the next thing I know the car was in my front room.’’
Skid marks on the road indicate the driver attempted to turn left off North St, lost control and over-corrected before smashing into Roberts’ car, which crashed through a glass ranchslider, almost knocked down a brick wall on to the bed where she was lying, and destroyed a concrete block partition between two flats.
A witness who saw the chase along Waitara’s main street estimated the fleeing car was doing at least 90kmh.
‘‘I’m still shaking today,’’ a visibly emotional and tearful Roberts said yesterday.
‘‘It (the impact) moved the bed I was lying on. The glass it just shattered, the glass from the doors and windows.’’
While her car was a write-off, Roberts was able to see the bright side for herself and her 91-yearold neighbour.
‘‘She could’ve been hurt or killed because all of the bricks between our units fell down on her side,’’ Roberts said.
Neighbour Les Powley estimated the driver was travelling at about 100kmh, in a 50kmh zone, when he lost control.
A man was arrested at the scene.
The crash was one of a long list of high speed pursuits involving police since the national lockdown began. On Saturday night, another fleeing driver was clocked at 193kmh along SH3, Junction Rd. Police abandoned the chase but about 20 minutes later the vehicle was discovered crashed into a ditch and the female driver was taken to hospital with serious injuries.
Earlier that day the driver of a white Subaru was clocked at
180kmh on SH3 northbound near Waitara. Statistics show the number of abandoned chases in Taranaki in the year ended June 30, 2019 was 84, or one every 4.2 days. Since the lockdown began it’s averaging about one a day.
Area commander Inspector Belinda Dewar, in a written statement, said while generally people were complying with the restrictions there was a small number of people who were persisting in deliberately flouting them. ‘‘Police have the discretion to warn persistent offenders and where necessary we will take prosecution action against those not following the restrictions,’’ Dewar said.
The police focus remained on maintaining public safety, security and public order, she said.
Police did not respond to questions about when they would get tough on lockdown violations or why it was necessary to continue to educate and inform offenders on the rules 12 days after they were introduced.