Police chase triggered as gun pointed at car

A dramatic police chase in Christchurch involving two stolen vehicles, high speeds, road spikes and a helicopter was triggered by a gun being pointed at another car.

The fleeing driver remained at large last night after an incident spanning multiple suburbs, from the northwest to the central city to the city’s south.

The owner of the first stolen vehicle, Blair Wright, woke for work at 4am yesterday to find his car gone.

He had already reported his car missing to police when his friend sent him a post on Facebook about his vehicle being involved in a police chase.

Police said they received a report at 6.12am that a firearm had been presented by the occupant of one vehicle to another vehicle travelling on Port Hills Rd, Hillsborough.

Officers responded and signalled for the driver to stop, but they fled.

‘‘Police did not initiate a pursuit and instead tracked the vehicle as it fled through the suburbs,’’ they said.

Police unsuccessfully deployed road spikes and called in a helicopter to help track the vehicle. The vehicle was later found abandoned at a BP petrol station on Moorhouse Ave, Addington – where the offender stole a van and fled.

‘‘Observations on this second vehicle were lost soon after that.’’

A person who worked on Moorhouse Ave said they saw the first ‘‘munted’’ silver Subaru get ditched by two young people at the Moorhouse BP station yesterday morning.

‘‘We saw a silver Subaru flying up Moorhouse Ave the wrong way, going about 90 to 100kph and slam straight into the driveway of the BP next door,’’ they said. ‘‘The car was severely beaten up, it looked stolen.’’

They said the occupants of the car, a male and a female, ‘‘looked very young, maybe aged 14 to 18’’.

Christchurch resident Susie Watson saw four people inside a silver Subaru early this morning when it did a U-turn at ‘‘excessive speed’’ and cut her off down Fitzgerald Ave.

‘‘I’ve never seen such speed in peak hour traffic. It was horrible,’’ Watson said. ‘‘There were definitely four in the car, that’s the first thing I noticed, and I said to myself straight away that’s a stolen car.’’

Watson said the occupants also shook their fists out the car’s window at her.

Dan Martin is one of many Christchurch residents rattled after having a close encounter with the driver involved in the high speed pursuit.

Martin was driving down Greers Rd after doing the morning school dropoff and heard sirens behind him.

‘‘This grey car with a door wide open came screaming around the corner,’’ Martin said. ‘‘The speed he was travelling at and on the wrong side of the road, I just couldn’t believe it.’’

Martin said he felt ‘‘shaken up’’ after the incident.

Another resident, Chris Martin, was driving when he saw a silver Subaru speeding up Johns Rd towards the Yaldhurst Rd roundabout.

Martin slowed down when he saw police with road spikes ahead.

‘‘Suddenly from the left on the inside, on the grass, travelling at least 120kph [the driver] passed us on the inside.’’

The door was wide open and almost clipped his wing mirror, he said.

‘‘He then crossed in front of us into the opposite lane and drove towards the officer who was waiting with road spikes.

‘‘Then he took a large sweeping turn dodging the spikes, barely missing a truck and took the first exit on Yaldhurst roundabout.’’

A Garden City Helicopter could be seen circling the central city and the Opawa/Hillsborough area just after 9.30am. The dangerous driving was seen right across the city, with reports of the car spotted on Ferry Rd, Moorhouse Ave, Deans Ave, Maidstone Rd, Memorial Ave, Cotswold Ave, Grahams Rd, Waimairi Rd, Riccarton Rd and Jones Rd.