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A drug dealer disqualified from driving was illegally carrying a cut-down shotgun, knives and meth when he fled police at speeds of up to 130km/h for an hour through residential Bay of Plenty streets.
During the pursuit Leon Pui, 30, drove into oncoming traffic without lights on and continued speeding even after police spiked and deflated his tyres. The dramatic early-morning chase ended when police nabbed him as he tried to escape on foot.
A top roading cop says fleeing drivers’ actions can have “horrific consequences”, while a driver advocate “super concerned” about the high numbers says some offenders even brag about it on social media.
Pui, from Te Puke, appeared in the Tauranga District Court on Thursday for sentencing after he earlier pleaded guilty to a raft of charges. His sentencing hearing was adjourned to March 18.
Pui has admitted charges of failing to stop for police, driving while disqualified, unlawfully possessing a firearm and two knives, possession of methamphetamine for supply and refusing a police officer’s request to give an evidential blood sample from the August 13 incident.
A police summary of facts obtained by the Bay of Plenty Times said Pui failed to stop after being seen driving at excessive speed, with headlights off and swerving all over Gravatt Rd in Pāpāmoa about 4.27am.
Pui continued to drive erratically, including on the wrong side of the road at speeds up to 130 km/hr in the 50 km/hr speed limit area, the summary said.
Heading for the Te Puke township, his reckless driving continued as he swerved, into the oncoming traffic lane still with no headlights on.
When police again tried to stop the car, Pui increased his speed to 120 km/hr in a 50 km/hr residential area.
Officers deflated the vehicle’s tyres with road spikes but Pui continued to drive at speed throughout Te Puke.
After a pursuit that lasted about an hour, Pui stopped the car in King St and fled on foot into a neighbouring property before he was arrested.
Police found two plastic containers in a bag around Pui’s waist containing 12.29 grams of methamphetamine and $1500 cash.
Inside the car were two knives, one with a 25cm blade, and in the front footwell was an unloaded cut-down, pump action shotgun in working condition.
Pui refused to give a blood sample and told police the gun was to “keep himself alive” as people were trying to kill him.
According to the latest police data, 883 drivers fled police in the Bay of Plenty between January 1 and September 30 last year.
This compared to 902 fleeing driver incidents during the entire 2022 year, a big jump from the 521 incidents in 2021 and 561 in 2020.
The Bay of Plenty district ranked second highest in terms of fleeing driver pursuit numbers in the country in 2022 and 2023, behind the Central police district.
Last year to September 30, 418 drivers were prosecuted in the Bay of Plenty for failing to stop for the police, compared to 412 in 2022.
Senior Sergeant Wayne Hunter, manager of the Western Bay of Plenty road policing team, said a driver’s decision to flee could have “significant and sometimes horrific consequences”.
He urged all drivers to ”just stop” when signalled to do so.
“Fleeing the police is not worth the huge risk of crashing and causing injury or death to yourself, your passengers or other innocent road users and possibly to the police officers involved in a pursuit,” he said.
Western Bay of Plenty road policing manager Senior Sergeant Wayne Hunter. Photo / Alex Cairns
“Police officers don’t want to pursue people and no one wants to see anyone hurt or killed,” he said.
Stacey Spall, AA Bay of Plenty District Council chairwoman and national convener, said the association was “super concerned and disappointed” about the marked increase in drivers not stopping for police in this district.
She said they put “themselves and everyone else” at risk, including the police working hard to keep roads safe.
”Fleeing is not the answer … I’m not sure why people don’t stop other than those already in the justice system and wanted by the police for serious offences.
”But it screams out to me that more and more there is a pervasive attitude among a small minority of drivers who don’t believe there will be serious consequences for their actions.”
Spall said some fleeing drivers were even bragging on social media that the police could not catch them.
Sandra Conchie is a senior journalist at the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post who has been a journalist for 24 years. She mainly covers police, court and other justice stories, as well as general news. She has been a Canon Media Awards regional/community reporter of the year.
