Fourteen-year-old Simon Norris died in a crash on March 6, 2021. Photo / Supplied
A teenage boy begged his mate not to die and told him "I f***ing love you" before racing to get help after the car they were in crashed near Reefton.
Simon Norris, 14, did not survive the crash and his friend revealed the final heartbreaking moments of his life to police.
The details can now be published after coroner Marcus Elliot released his findings on Simon's death.
Simon died on March 6, 2021.
He was staying at his friend's place and the pair decided to go for a late-night drive.
Simon had never driven a car before and it was pouring with rain.
The boys pushed the car out of the driveway - so as not to wake the friend's mother - and set off.
The boy told police that after his mother cooked dinner and went to bed Simon suggested taking his brother's car for a drive.
"I was like 'nah I don't really want to coz he will give me a hiding'," he said.
"He's like 'don't be a p***y' and we ended up pushing it out of the driveway and
then driving up the road."
Simon was driving and the friend said "can we please just … this is far enough, let's go back".
But the teen kept going.
"And then all I can remember we were going around one corner… lost control and just went straight off," he said.
"[I] remember going flying.
"Then when the car crashed… his legs were like across me and he was like leaning back
saying 'I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die'.
"I said 'don't die' and I said 'I f**king love you' then I said 'I'm going to get help'."
The friend grabbed Simon's phone and tried to call 111 but the phone did not work.
"I ended up walking all the way home to get help," said the friend.
He said at the start of the trip Simon's driving "wasn't that bad" and they weren't going "that fast".
"We were just driving up the road, just having a normal cruise. He wasn't like being an idiot … just normally cruising."
The teen woke his mother.
She said he was "soaking wet" and "crying inconsolably".
She went to a neighbour for help.
The neighbour told police: "I immediately got into our car and drove to find the crash.
"It was dark and foggy at this point and rainy too. It was hard to find the crash scene. When I did, I got straight out and ran down.
"I saw the car was totally damaged, the driver's door was open and saw a body
completely folded over. He was half in and half out of the car. I pulled him
out of the driver's side."
Emergency services converged on the scene but could not save Simon.
A post-mortem examination confirmed he died as a result of lacerations of the jugular veins, lungs, liver and spleen due to trauma to his neck and torso sustained in the crash.
No drugs or alcohol were found in his system.
Police ascertained the car left the road and went over a steep embankment before it rolled a number of times and landed about 16m away.
Simon would have been going at least 51km/h at the time and there was no sign of any braking.
Police said the seatbelts showed "no sign of use during the crash".
"Calculations ascertained that Mr Norris was travelling too fast to stop," Senior Constable Stephen Lamont told the coroner.
"It is possible Mr Norris became situationally unaware of where he was due to fog and the reduced vision through his windscreen and that, upon realising his vehicle's approach to the right-hand corner, he suddenly counter-steered to his left without applying his brakes.
"Mr Norris was an inexperienced driver, driving downhill on a gravel road while travelling at, or close to, the vehicle's critical curve speed limit for that curve."
Police examined the car and said there were no mechanical faults - however, three tyres were over-inflated.
"Given that over-inflated tyres can cause a vehicle to become unstable in some conditions, this was thought to be a contributing factor," said Lamont.
Coroner Elliot considered whether to make recommendations about the section of road where the crash happened, including installing a wooden barrier and reflective chevrons.
However, he said the absence of those safety measures at the time of the crash could not be clearly linked to the factors that contributed to Simon's death. Therefore, he did not have any power to make the recommendations.
After the crash, Simon's father Ch'e Norris spoke to the Herald about his son.
"It's just really hard. Simon was a great, happy boy. He was a wonderful boy and we are going to miss him," he said.
"He really loved fishing, surfing, he had so many friends. He was looking ahead and was going to go into the Navy or Air Force. He was so loved.
"His brothers absolutely miss him. They're heartbroken."
Norris said he had visited Simon's mate in hospital.
The youth suffered moderate injuries.
"He and his mum said it was a total relief. They thought that we were going to blame them for the crash but we said that we didn't," said Norris.
"We just gave them a big hug and told them it's all right because teenagers are teenagers these days."
Norris said they don't blame anybody, it was just a tragic accident.
He said as far as they knew, Simon had never driven before.
"That's one thing I was going to teach him how to do, to drive when he was 16.
"He always wanted to learn before then and do things you're meant to be older to do."
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