It's chase or chaos on roads, say police

By SCOTT MacLEOD and ROSALEEN MacBRAYNE

Police say they must keep chasing reckless drivers or abandon the roads to chaos.

This year's car-chase death toll reached 10 yesterday when Greg Ross Campbell, 26, plunged a stolen car into Tauranga's harbour after a two-minute chase through city streets.

This came 15 hours after the Police Commissioner spelled out chase procedures to all staff, 29 hours after three people died in an Auckland chase, and 40 hours after a damning coroner's report into a deadly pursuit south of Whangarei.

Police have defended their actions in both this week's chases.

The acting chief of Tauranga police, Senior Sergeant Ross Bielby, said a patrol car was sent to the central city just before 3.30am yesterday after reports of dangerous driving.

In Grey St, the officers spotted a Volkswagen Golf stolen from Auckland on Monday.

They chased the speeding car, but lost it in the northern part of Tauranga, after a two-minute chase.

Mr Bielby said officers in a second car saw the car heading back to the central city, but were too far away to give chase.

The officers went to The Strand after reports it was seen there.

The Golf had apparently swept through the Harbourside Brasserie and Bar's empty carpark, braked, slid sideways, and toppled over a low concrete buffer into the harbour, 10m from the restaurant entrance.

The vehicle landed on its roof, with only the wheels jutting from the water.

Mr Bielby said two officers waded in to check the car.

In the dark, they could not find anyone except a wet and shivering passenger hiding nearby.

The body of the driver was found when the car was pulled out of the water.

The crash happened about five minutes after the initial pursuit. Police said it was debatable whether the chase contributed to the death.

Two 20-year-old men have been charged with unlawfully getting into the car.

Figures obtained by the Weekend Herald show half the 20 people killed in police chases since January 1998 have died in the past nine months.

Police Minister George Hawkins said he could see no reason for the deadly spree apart from "tragic" coincidences.

"Obviously the public is worried about safety, but people don't flee unless they have something to hide," Mr Hawkins said.

"Police all over the world chase criminals, and New Zealand will be no different."

The president of the Police Association, Greg O'Connor, said criminals were crashing more because they were trying to escape tougher penalties - such as the seizure of vehicles - and they believed police were getting too scared to chase them.

It was vital that police keep chasing criminals, Mr O'Connor said.

Otherwise they would learn that they could escape by driving recklessly.

Police chases - 10 deaths in 9 months

December 19, 3.30am: Police chase a stolen car through Tauranga for two minutes before losing it in a 50km/h area. Five minutes later it is found in the harbour with dead driver Greg Campbell, 26.

December 18, 12.02am: A car holding four people moves at 100km/h along a 50km/h street in Mt Roskill, Auckland. Police stop chasing 12 seconds before it hits a Chevrolet ute, killing Joe Ahkiau, 33, and Amber Baddock, 21. Car passenger Faafetai Time, 17, also dies.

October 6, 1pm: Jeffrey Devine, 17, crashes his speeding Toyota into a truck between Blenheim and Picton after "several dangerous passing manoeuvres at high-speed" on the 100km/h state highway. Two police officers are hurt when they crash into a ditch.

September 20, 12.15am: Police chase eight teenagers in a speeding car along Morrinsville Rd, Hamilton. The teens lose control in the 70km/h zone, hit a kerb, and slam into a power pole. Passenger Nicholas Smith, 17, killed.

July 31, 6.24pm: Police chase Paul O'Kane, 39, when he evades a checkpoint in Hastings and speeds off at 120km/h. He overtakes a vehicle at a stop sign and slams into a ute, killing himself in the 50km/h zone.

May 12, 9.07pm: Drug-fuelled motorcyclist Kuran Brunton, 29, hits 190km/h while being chased south of Whangarei. Crashes into a car in a 70km/h zone, killing driver Erin Burgess, 18, and himself. Coroner criticises aspects of the chase.

March 7, 3.05am: Police chase a stolen car at 100km/h in a 70km/h zone at Albany. It loses control on a wide, well-lit stretch of road and crashes into a house, killing driver Daniel Luke Smith, 17, and injuring two passengers.