Judge remands boy racer in custody for a week

By BRIDGET CARTER

A district court judge has been praised for remanding a boy racer in custody after the youth was caught driving dangerously through Manukau and failed to stop for police.

Judge Charles Blackie remanded Tony Mark Talarico in custody for one week after the unemployed 18-year-old pleaded guilty to three traffic-related charges, two of which carry a maximum penalty of three months in jail.

Talarico, from New Lynn, had been spinning his stationwagon in the centre of busy Roscommon Rd around 5am last November before he was arrested.

Judge Blackie's remand ruling, made in the Manukau District Court on Monday, has been described by police as unusual and comes after an incident at the weekend involving boy racers in which a car ran down a police officer.

Sensible Sentencing Trust spokesman Garth McVicar praised the judge, saying sending someone into custody for this sort of offending was an ideal way of giving a short, sharp message to such offenders.

"The deterrent value of that message will be huge," he said.

Talarico was charged with reckless driving, failing to stop for red and blue lights and operating a vehicle in a manner causing it to undergo sustained loss of traction.

He had five people inside his stationwagon, including some in the boot, was driving with no lights and was doing full-turn spins, known as donuts.

Police said that once Talarico realised he was being chased, he accelerated, went onto the wrong side of the road and drove at almost double the speed limit in some areas, approaching 120km/h.

He also "fish-tailed" at a set of traffic lights and forced another driver on to the median barrier.

Eventually, after being chased for almost 2km, he was stopped with road spikes.

Police told Judge Blackie that Talarico's vehicle had been impounded a number of times for boy-racing activities and it seemed he had not learned his lesson.

Judge Blackie also heard that boy racers were a problem in Auckland, where up to 800 people could gather for illegal street racing and to perform stunts such as burnouts and donuts.

"These acts are not only annoying to the public, but also place the public and spectators at great risk or harm," he said.

Judge Blackie told Talarico the police summary of facts for this type of offending was among the worst he had seen.