Man's car rams home chasing false leg thieves

Francis Romana photographs the car that smashed through her father's fence and became wedged in the foundations of a neighbouring house. Photo / Michael Cunningham

He thought they had stolen his leg and he was having none of it.

A 64-year-old man's car hurtled through two fences before slamming into a house while he was chasing a group he believed had driven off with his prosthetic leg. The man gave chase following an altercation at a Fairburn St property in Whangarei, just after 9pm on Wednesday, police spokeswoman Sarah Kennett said.

The man believed the group had taken his false leg during the altercation. Police are investigating the accident.

The cars headed south down the street, side by side, said Fairburn St resident Josh Taueki, who was standing on his deck. Mr Taueki described how the other car appeared to ram the man's car off the road.

"They must have been doing 100-plus [kilometres per hour] at the corner," he said.

"When it crashed [the driver] was startled. The other car stopped, had a quick look and took off. He [the man who crashed] got out of the car, bleeding. He stood at the end of the car and was 'Yeah, nah, I'm all good'."

Mrs Kennett said the driver was taken to hospital with a minor head injury, but was otherwise unharmed and was being spoken to by police. The car was left wedged "almost halfway into the house", she said. Officers located the missing leg on the man's front lawn and returned it to him. "It must have been tossed out before he gave chase," Mrs Kennett said.

Ivor Romana.

Ivor Romana lives next door to the Housing New Zealand house that bore the brunt of the damage. Two large sections of his fence were the other casualties, with the out-of-control car passing metres from Mr Romana's lounge, where he was sitting watching a movie. He heard screeching tyres, an enormous "crash" and rushed outside to the driver's aid.

"A lot of people lose it on this corner," said Mr Romana, who has lived on Fairburn St for about seven years. "The crash shuddered the whole house."

HNZ senior tenancy manager Lois Buchanan said the smashed house was assessed by an engineer and a safety specialist. The extent and cost of the damage would be in the engineer's report, expected today. The car had been removed from the foundations and was parked on the road at the request of police, Ms Buchanan said. Contractors were carrying out temporary repairs and boarding up the sub-floor area late yesterday.

"We are pleased to see that the damage is not as bad as first appeared," Ms Buchanan said.

"The house is safe and the tenant does not need to move temporarily."