Fleeing truck driver reverses into police car

A truck driver repeatedly reversed into a police car as an hour-long, slow speed chase in the Hutt Valley came to an end on Saturday.

He faces multiple charges after allegedly leading police from Wellington to Upper Hutt, where witnesses say he did slow laps of a quiet residential neighbourhood.

Police tried to pull the 40-yearold man over on the Wellington Urban Motorway about 10.15pm, after reports of dangerous driving.

However, the man allegedly failed to stop and fled along State Highway 2 towards Lower Hutt.

Police used road spikes to try to halt the truck in Lower Hutt, but the truck driver ‘‘continued to flee in a dangerous manner’’.

The vehicle eventually stopped in Upper Hutt’s Routley Cres at 11.15pm – an hour after the pursuit began. The driver was arrested at the scene.

He was to appear in Wellington District Court today on a range of driving-related offences, police said.

Emma Shelley, who lives on nearby Whakatiki St, heard the police sirens about 10.45pm. She watched as five patrol cars drove down her street, followed by the truck, and another two police cars.

‘‘I had no idea he was actually the reason all the cops were there, because it didn’t look out of the ordinary.’’

Shelley estimated the truck was travelling at about 40kmh on its first lap, and slowed with each pass after driving over the spikes.

See video at stuff.co.nz