Cafe diner hurt in hit and run smash

Photo / File

A diner leaped for his life when a speeding car mounted the pavement and crashed into a West Auckland cafe last night.

A shaken Hardware Cafe owner Brent Gore said the man had been enjoying an al fresco meal out the front of his Titirangi cafe when a car mounted the footpath, smashing into the front of the building.

He said it was lucky no one was killed.

The driver then put the car into reverse and sped off, leaving carnage in his wake, with a part of the cafe wall damaged and glass littering the restaurant.

Gore said: "It just happened so quickly. There was a loud bang and then he just drove off. It was terrible.

"It could have been a lot worse if it had been any earlier in the evening."

The patron suffered a suspected dislocated knee and was taken to Waitakere Hospital by St John ambulance.

Police interviewed the remaining 14 patrons who had their meals interrupted by the hit-and-run.

A Titirangi woman who claimed to know the identity of the driver told the Herald on Sunday he abandoned the car, which belonged to a friend, on nearby Minnehaha Ave.

The driver, a teenager, had been showing off to friends when things went 'horribly wrong'.

"He definitely didn't do it on purpose, his friends were up in the village. He did a burn-out and it went horribly wrong.

"He's just a stupid teenager whose done the wrong thing," the woman said.

The teenager fled into bushlands last night, sparking a police manhunt.

A large group of teenagers gathered at the house waiting for the youth to come home.

The cafe was expected to reopen today for breakfast, but would still require a major repair job, said Gore.

Gore said he wanted to treat the injured man to a meal to make amends after last night's terrifying hit-and-run.