Death race for reckless driver

The 4WD Pajero after the crash on the corner of Springs Rd and Neilson St, Onehunga. Picture / Brett Phibbs

The race to his death took 17 minutes.

It was 11.12am in Western Springs when a man in a stolen Pajero was asked to stop for driving at 78km/h in a 50km/h zone. He chose instead to race his car at high speed through Auckland suburbia pursued by police on road and in the air.

At 11.29am his escape route closed off abruptly in Onehunga - the 4WD collided with another car, swung onto its side and slid into a concrete power pole and traffic light.

The man, who was named this morning as 34 year-old Robert Maurice Crawford from Pakuranga, died inside the Pajero, with the live power lines still draped across its crushed roof.

The fatal chase had begun in a mundane way when police tried to stop the vehicle - which had been stolen from Botany Downs last week and possibly used in two burglaries - on a traffic matter.

The driver fled in the vehicle at speeds of up to 100km/h on roads with 50km/h limits.

As police patrols and the Eagle Helicopter chased they were warned by superiors to abort the pursuit if it became too dangerous.

A few times the patrol cars did pull back and at one point the vehicle was half a kilometre ahead of them, but the driver kept his foot to the accelerator.

The chase saw him driving on the wrong side of busy roads, up on to footpaths and through red lights.

As the chase headed through Mt Albert and Sandringham the driver led police down side streets, but the officers never got close enough to block him in.

At one stage as police prepared to lay spikes on the road, the man lost control and spun around 180 degrees.

As he raced through Onehunga, knocking signs over as he hit the footpath, curious shoppers and retailers watched on.

Then the 4WD clipped a brand new Ford Falcon, causing minor injuries to the driver as it sped through the intersection of Captain Springs Rd and Neilson St. That brought the vehicle to a halt as the accident impact forced the car into a deathly spin into the power pole.

The Police Complaints Authority has been notified and a senior officer assigned to investigate the crash.

A second police chase earlier in the day will also come under scrutiny. It is understood to have started at 10.55am after a police officer spotted a young woman driving dangerously in Greenlane.

The pursuit ended little more than a minute later. The young woman crossed the centreline while heading along Great South Rd and crashed into a van and three cars.

She had to be cut from her car and was taken to Auckland City Hospital with moderate injuries. Four others received minor injuries.

* A court in Canterbury yesterday heard a teenage driver may owe his life to the quick actions of a policeman who dragged him from the wreck of his car after it crashed.

Ben James Hands, 19, a labourer, was trapped after his car plunged off State Highway 1 near Greta Valley at speed and slammed into pine trees, bursting into flames on September 8, the Rangiora District Court was told.

A highway patrol policeman, pursuing Hands after he passed the patrol car at a speed of at least 150km/h, pulled the young man to safety, Judge David Holderness said.

Hands was sentenced to 110 hours' community work for driving while disqualified, 40 hours' for driving dangerously and was disqualified from driving for a concurrent term of 12 months on each charge.

- additional reporting NZPA