MP stunned by driving call
Police will follow up on member of public’s report
Police are following up a report about the way a vehicle believed to be driven by Labour MP and former Police Association head Greg O’Connor travelled through Central Otago.
O’Connor says he can’t recall driving in an erratic or alarming way, and would be happy to talk to police.
Police said a member of the public contacted them about a car being driven on the Gibbston Highway, which is SH6, just east of Queenstown at around 8.45pm on Wednesday.
Police searched for the vehicle, registered to O’Connor, but could not find it on Wednesday night. They said yesterday they would be following up on the report.
O’Connor confirmed that he was on SH6 on Wednesday night as he drove his son Michael from Christchurch to Queenstown while on holiday. But he said he had not been in any accidents or near-misses, and had no idea what the member of the public’s concern might be about.
“I can’t think of anything it might relate to. I was travelling with my autistic son and if he ever needs attention, I try to pull over,” O’Connor told the Herald.
“I’d be interested to know what the perception was. I’d be very, very surprised if someone thought I was speeding.
“I can’t recall anything, certainly nothing that resulted in a near-miss or anything like that. I’m scratching my head.”
Asked whether he had been drinking, he said: “I don’t drink.”
He said police had not been in touch with him, but he was happy to talk to them. A spokesperson for police said the member of the public had contacted police because of “the manner in which the vehicle was being driven”.
Police had tried to find the vehicle after they received the report.
“The vehicle was not located at the time. This report will be followed up by police,” the spokesperson said.
O’Connor was the longest-serving president of the Police Association before he became the MP for Ohariu in 2017. Prior to that he was a police officer, rising to the rank of senior sergeant, and once spent 18 months undercover in the drug and gang scene in the North Island.
In 1995 he became the association’s president, a position he held until 2016.
When he stepped down, he said lifting the credibility of the association was his main achievement.