Dalton Papalii posted this photo on social media of his Chevrolet Impala with the caption "My Sixty-Four". Photo / Supplied
Dalton Papalii posted this photo on social media of his Chevrolet Impala with the caption "My Sixty-Four". Photo / Supplied
It was a couple of hours after midnight on June 1 when All Blacks star Dalton Papalii pointed his car south and let rip on Auckland's Southern Motorway.
As he neared Takanini, he unknowingly passed a detective and a constable travelling in an unmarked police stationwagon, then continued to accelerate to speeds police would later describe as "extremely excessive".
They started following the Blues captain and activated their lights.
The detective in the car would later tell a superior officer they travelled at 170km/h under lights for about 1km and the offending car was still keeping a distance.
The driver pulled over about 600m south of the Takanini on-ramp.
When the officers went to speak to the driver they identified the driver as Dalton Papalii.
As is usual practice, the officers started the ball rolling on laying a charge for speeding in excess of the 100km/h limit.
The charge they were to lay was a category 1 traffic offence, meaning police would have alleged he was driving more than 50km/h above the posted limit. It carries a maximum penalty of a $1000 fine if convicted. There were no other charges.
The exact reason why police were forced to abandon the charge against the loose forward remained unclear when the story first broke.
But an email obtained under the Official Information Act shows it related to a failure to calibrate the speed gear of the police car.
The email, from the detective who was in the unmarked police wagon that pulled Papalii over in the early hours, was sent to his superior to outline the circumstances of the incident.
There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by the detective or the constable who pulled over Papalii.
"Knowing our vehicle didn't have the usual speed calibration sticker below the infotainment system we were unsure whether we could proceed with a charge," the detective wrote.
As the time neared 3am he phoned the on-duty motorways sergeant and asked how they should proceed.
"He advised us that we could do a retrospective speed calibration on our vehicle which can be done at the Auckland Motorways Metro Base."
The sergeant told the detective to continue with the court summons and licence suspension notice. They filled out the necessary forms and followed him back home to Papakura.
A week later, the detective phoned one of his superiors to ask whether the unmarked wagon had a current speed calibration certification.
"He advised that in his year and a half with Crime Squad he didn't believe it had been calibrated."
The detective then phoned another Sergeant to try to organise for the car to have its speed calibrated.
Dalton Papalii posted this photo on social media of his Chevrolet Impala with the caption "My Sixty-Four". Photo / Supplied
He was told that a retrospective calibration is only possible if the vehicle had previously been calibrated, or its calibration had only expired recently.
The detective sought further advice from specialists in Wellington who told him there was no history of the unmarked wagon ever having had its speedo calibrated, which proved the death knell for any possibility of charging Papalii.
"We decided the charge would need to be withdrawn given we couldn't prove the police vehicle speedometer was accurate enough."
The detective then called the flanker to tell him not to go to the Manukau District Court as summonsed because the charge was being withdrawn.
Papalii's lawyer then phoned the detective to confirm his call wasn't an attempted wind-up by one of the rugby star's associates.
"He wanted to confirm that the summons was in fact getting withdrawn and it wasn't one of Papalii's friends who had called him.
"I re-affirmed with the lawyer that the summons was being withdrawn and I would be in contact with Papalii once I had made inquiries to get his licence reinstated."
The Herald has been unable to definitively confirm which vehicle Papalii, a well-known car enthusiast, was driving.
The detective's email said it was a red Ford Mustang but there is no evidence of Papalii owning that make of vehicle.
Earlier this year he posted a photo with a lowered red 1964 Chevrolet Impala.
He has also spoken of owning a modified 1971 Jaguar XJ6 with a 5.7L Chevrolet V8 engine, as well as a Toyota Hilux.
Papalii with his modified Jaguar. Photo / Supplied
A police spokesman earlier described the speed the car was travelling at as "extremely excessive".
"Police can confirm a vehicle was stopped on the Southern Motorway in the early hours of 1 June after it was allegedly travelling at an extremely excessive speed.
"The driver was spoken to on the roadside and was remorseful for the situation.
"Regrettably, police has had to withdraw the matter from the court due to a technicality."
Dalton Papalii is understood to have expressed regret and embarrassment to his Blues teammates over the incident.
A representative for Papalii earlier confirmed he was facing misconduct proceedings from NZ Rugby's integrity unit.
