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The family living in the Palmerston North house which a young driver smashed into and died early yesterday are so traumatised by the incident they are packing up and moving out.
A "loud bang" woke James and Noreen Williams as a stolen car being chased by police smashed into a power pole, flipped and ploughed into the side of their neighbour's home, killing the teenage driver.
"It was a bloody mess, a very big mess," Mr Williams told The Dominion Post.
The Toyota Levin car demolished the corner of their neighbour's bedroom and a fence separating the houses and slammed into Mr Williams' ute parked in the driveway, jolting it into their Vogel St home in Palmerston North about 2am yesterday.
The couple sleeping in the bedroom next door were "badly shaken" and spent the night in hospital, but their young children in nearby rooms were not hurt.
However, house owner Lesley Klue told Radio New Zealand the family, still too shaken to talk about the crash, were packing up and planned to move out of the house they rented from her.
Mr Williams said he initially thought the car had crashed into their dining room.
Then he saw the carnage outside.
Detective Senior Sergeant Craig Sheridan said the driver had assaulted an 18-year-old woman - who was admitted to Palmerston North Hospital with facial injuries - then taken her car.
He later filled it at a service station and left without paying.
About 1.55am, a police patrol saw the car in Featherston St and signalled for it to stop, but it sped away and the two-minute pursuit began.
The car went straight through a T intersection at Featherston St and Vogel St and crashed into the house.
Serious crash investigators were at the scene yesterday and witnesses were being interviewed. The Independent Police Conduct Authority will conduct a full review of the incident.
- NZPA
