Inquest begins into death of teen hit by police car

The crash scene where 16-year-old Rawiri Wilson was struck by a police car on State Highway 1 in Northland. Photo / Greg Bowker

A witness has described how darkly dressed figures, apparently drunk, were stumbling along a dark Northland road before a teenager was hit and killed by a police car.

Coroner Garry Evans' inquest into the death of Rawiri Wilson, 16, began in Whangarei today. The inquest is expected to last three days.

Rawiri was hit by a police patrol car on a straight section of State Highway 1 at Ohaeawai on July 25, 2009, while walking home with a friend late on a cold and dark night after attending a social function.

Several witnesses including two Kamo firemen, Denis Hewitt and Stephen Gurnick, who were also returning home from a social evening, told the coroner of figures "dressed in black ... stumbling ... appeared drunk" walking along the road with their backs to approaching vehicles.

They were on the grass verge but one veered out over the fog line waving his arms.

Mr Hewitt, who was driving, said he had to swerve over the centre line to miss the figure. Luckily no vehicle was coming the other way. Mr Gurnick recalled shouting "they'll get hit if not careful".

Another witness, Joanne Davis-Cooper, said she was following the police patrol car when she saw its brake lights go on suddenly and then the red and blue flashing lights. She said they were doing about 80km/h in the 100km/h zone.

She stopped to help and a police officer said "something like `they came out of nowhere'."

A figure was lying face down on the road and a young man was screaming, swearing, kicking the police car and punching the constable, she said.

She said she helped another injured man who was lying in a ditch until an ambulance arrived.

Meanwhile, Mr Evans rejected an application for name suppression for a police officer giving evidence at the inquest.

He said police had no more rights to name suppression than anybody else in matters before the courts and this had been made clear in previous judicial rulings, including from the Supreme Court.

So far the officer has not been identified but will give evidence later in the inquest.

-- NZPA