Patrol car skids and crashes during pursuit

Wednesday evening's pursuit started in central Kawakawa, continued along streets where children often play and ended with a police car crashing in Greenacres Drive. Photo / Joey Rapana

A police car crashed while trying to stop a car driving at dangerous speeds on roads around Kawakawa where children often play.

The crash occurred just before 8pm on Wednesday in Greenacres Drive, south of Bay of Islands Hospital.

Joey Rapana, who lives near the crash scene, said he heard a siren and the engine of the fleeing car, and saw a car flash by at high speed - he estimated it was travelling at well over 100km/h - followed soon after by a police car at a lower speed.

Next he saw a cloud of dust as the patrol car skidded down a bank and stopped against a fence. The crash occurred on a short straight between sharp bends, he said.

Children often played on or near the road because there was usually little traffic. "We were very lucky there were no kids on the road at the time."

Police Senior Sergeant Peter Robinson said the two officers in the vehicle were uninjured. The patrol car was damaged.

Northland police have been busy since Christmas with car-related crimes. The tyres of a car stolen in Waitangi on Tuesday were spiked near Hikurangi, and the car was driven on its rims for another 25km before it stopped and its three teenage occupants, from Whangarei, Kawakawa and Moerewa, were arrested.

About 12.30am on Wednesday men were seen breaking into a car at Opua Marina. Police pursued the vehicle to Ruapekapeka Rd, where it crashed. Four men ran off leaving a youth, 15, behind.

On New Year's Day a thief tried to steal a car, boat and trailer in Paihia, but left in such a hurry the boat slid off the trailer. As it was attached by a cable the thief dragged it along State Highway 11 chased by the owner in another vehicle. The thief abandoned the car and damaged boat in a gravel dump and fled on foot into bush.