Cop should be ‘held to account’

A West Coast man who almost collided with a police patrol car ‘‘flying’’ on the wrong side of the road at a corner says he wants police to charge the officer for dangerous driving.

Greymouth glazier Ben Gully was returning from a job when he captured the near-crash on his van’s dash cam on State Highway 6 just south of Runanga on October 25.

The footage shows a police patrol car, with lights flashing, driving on the wrong side of the road as the van approaches the ‘‘blind’’ corner.

Gully, who was carrying about 120 kilograms of glass on the side of his van, said he was given ‘‘a hell of a fright’’. He hit the brakes and veered to the left to avoid a head-on crash with the patrol car.

‘‘He was flying. If he hit us it would have been fatal.’’

Shaken by the incident, Gully returned to work and downloaded the footage. He then took it into the Greymouth police station and made a formal statement.

Later that day, Gully sent an email to the officer he dealt with at the station to let them know he wanted the officer involved to be charged. He said he received no response. He sent a follow-up email about two weeks ago, but was still waiting to hear back when The Press spoke to him this week. ‘‘I knew if that was you or me or a tourist, the police would be all over it like a rash. Whatever would happen to you or me should happen to [the driver].

‘‘It’s just a dangerous bit of driving and [the officer] needs to be held to account . . . if we were two seconds quicker . . . she would’ve been all over.’’

A police spokeswoman said the officers were undertaking urgent duty driving as they responded to two aggravated robberies in Greymouth and Runanga.

According to police documents, urgent duty driving is when an on-duty officer drives above the speed limit or the natural flow of traffic while responding to a critical incident. They may not be complying with certain traffic rules.

‘‘Enforcement officers must prioritise safety by driving with a high standard of care, with appropriate use of warning devices, in a manner appropriate to the situation, and in accordance with the Land Transport (Road User) Rule 2004 and the Land Transport Act 1998,’’ police guidelines say. ‘‘Enforcement officers must be able to justify their manner of driving taking into account all of the circumstances that existed at the time.’’ The incident is under investigation. When asked why police had not responded to Gully’s emails, the spokeswoman said she understood the station officer Gully dealt with was off work when he sent in the video and only became aware of it when they returned to work this week. She said police had been in contact with Gully after being approached by

The Press .