Jane Filo watched the incident unfold outside her house and later helped the injured woman who was driving the car that was hit.
Witnesses have recounted the moment a speeding car fleeing police crashed into another vehicle at a roundabout and then hit a tree in residential Papamoa today.
A police hunt is ongoing for the driver of the car, who fled the crash scene on foot.
Resident Jane Filo was returning home when she heard sirens and decided to wait outside her house and watch.
She saw a speeding car pull out from behind a bus on Dickson Rd and pass it, driving directly over the roundabout island at the intersection of Grant Pl.
Filo said the car managed to pass another vehicle waiting at the roundabout at the other end, but crashed into a car directly behind it.
Jane Filo watched the incident unfold outside her house and later helped the injured woman who was driving the car that was hit. Photo/George Novak
He was skinny, tall, had fair skin and a bald head, Filo said.
She said the man went to the back seat and took out what looked like a toolbox.
He then went and opened the boot and took out another object the same colour as the box.
It was long and thick, Filo said.
"Then he started walking, and when he got to that corner [by the church], he ran and jumped over the fence."
Filo then saw it was an elderly woman in the car that was hit.
"So I went up to her, and she was shaking. I brought her to the side of the road; she wanted to sit down."
Filo said the elderly woman had hurt her wrist in the collision, had stomach pain and was in shock.
Teachers from Papamoa Coast Kindergarten ran over to help, she said, and the emergency services soon arrived.
The fleeing car came to a stop after hitting another vehicle and a tree near the intersection of Grant Pl and Dickson Rd in Papamoa. Photo/George Novak
Police said the man's vehicle was initially stopped on Dickson Rd near Grant Pl about 1.20pm.