Male driver charged after Te Puke crash

A 20 year old man has been charged with Careless Driving Causing Injury after a serious head on crash on State Highway 2, Te Puke, at 4:55am on Wednesday 22 December.

He will appear in the Tauranga District Court later this month.

The crash resulted in serious injuries to the drivers of both cars, one of which was the Officer in Charge of Te Puke Police, Senior Sergeant Deirdre Lack.

Senior Sergeant Lack spent ten weeks in hospital. She was recently discharged and is now recovering at home. It will be some time before she can return to Police duties. The male driver was discharged from hospital approximately two weeks after the crash.

The Acting District Road Policing Manager, Senior Sergeant Stuart Nightingale, says the crash investigation was overseen by him in order to ensure transparency around the process.

"Given the incident involved one of Western Bay of Plenty's senior Police officers, it was appropriate that the investigation was handled in this way."

Senior Sergeant Nightingale says the investigation determined that the male driver had crossed the centre line, into the path of the oncoming vehicle driven by Senior Sergeant Lack. He says the investigation has confirmed that neither of the drivers were using cell phones at the time of the crash.