Pursuit, collisions
About 8.45 this morning police attended an incident in Clendon where a car was driven through a fence.
The car involved fled the scene when police arrived and failed to stop when indicated to do so by police. A short pursuit was abandoned in Clendon and the offender headed North on Roscommon Rd.
The police helicopter Eagle located the offending car - a maroon Honda Prelude - on Roscommon Road being driven in an erratic manner and started monitoring its movements.
The Honda was seen going off the on-ramp at Mahunga Drive, against the traffic, and then being driven erratically in the Mangere Bridge area, before re-entering the motorway and heading North again. For safety reasons Police patrols did not follow the car during this time, relying on Eagle to monitor its movements and provide reports.
The Honda next left the motorway at Hillsborough Rd and drove west up Hillsborough Rd. Eagle described the car as passing vehicles any which way he could, including on the left hand side and overtaking on double yellow lines. Police set up spikes at intersections and the car was successfully spiked on the intersection of Donovan and Boundary Roads in Blockhouse Bay. At this time the fleeing driver was still not being pursued by police cars.
The fleeing driver then collided with another vehicle in Kinross Rd and forced it to a stop. The offender pulled the woman driver from that vehicle and prepared to take her car.
The woman managed to remove her 2 and a half year-old daughter from the back seat of the car before the offender fled towards New Lynn. Eagle continued to monitor the movements of the offender and patrol cars started moving towards the vehicle as it headed towards New Lynn.
The offender collided with a second vehicle a short time later on Portage Rd at the intersection with Hill Crescent. Eagle directed nearby patrol cars to the crash site and the offender was arrested.
The young girl in the car-jacking sustained a graze to her head. Fortunately no-one else appears to have been injured in either of the crashes.