Police Pursuit of stolen vehicle ends in crash

At about 7.00am on Tuesday the 6th November 2007 a Police Officer patrolling southward on State Highway One in the area commonly referred to as the Desert Road was passed by a vehicle at high speed in the opposite direction.

The Police Officer turned his patrol vehicle and attempted to follow the speeding motorist.

The driver of the speeding vehicle, which had been reported as stolen, did not stop.

A pursuit ensued at speed toward Turangi.

The pursuit was monitored by the Police Communication Centre.

Police Staff from Turangi were dispatched south along State Highway One and deployed road spikes.

Southbound Traffic was stopped by Police.

As the speeding vehicle approached the road spikes the driver swerved his vehicle to the left and attempted to drive on the wide road verge.

He was still driving at speed.

The driver avoided the road spikes and then appeared to lose control of the vehicle which collided at speed with two trees

As a result of the crash the driver has suffered extensive injury and has been airlifted to Waikato Hospital.

State Highway One was closed for a period of time to allow the Police Serious Crash Unit to investigate the crash scene

The Police Complaints Authority has been informed and an investigator appointed.