A car crashed through a school in Waikanae on Friday morning. Photo / Facebook / Kapakapanui School
A mother says it is “very lucky” nobody was harmed after a fleeing driver ploughed through a school’s grounds.
The vehicle drove through the grounds of Kapakapanui School in Waikanae on Friday morning.
The primary school said on social media the vehicle “continued across the school field and turf and crashed through our rear fence”.
“All children were inside at the time and remained inside.”
Images uploaded by the school show a broken fence and gate.
The mother of a 10-year-old student says the incident happened minutes before the “entire field would’ve been covered with children” out for break time, and the incident left them anxious and emotional.
“Had it been 10 minutes later, he would have mowed down a lot of kids on his way through the school.”
The mother, who wished not to be named, said the teachers immediately put classrooms into lockdown and she described their response as “brilliant”.
“I know one teacher grabbed a kid and sort of threw the kid in the class and locked the door behind her.”
She said the crash left extensive damage to numerous fences, gates, and barriers, and tyre marks through the school field.
The event was described as “totally unexpected” as the school is away from the main thoroughfare in a residential area.
“It’s pretty disappointing to see the prevalence of crime within New Zealand at the moment. It doesn’t feel like any overly safe place to be.”
Police said the man was taken into custody after driving “erratically” through Waikanae about 11am.
Kapakapanui School declined to comment.
Last year, a car driving erratically in Auckland narrowly missed a student before pulling a U-turn and driving along a footpath and berm where another two students were almost struck.
Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
The 36-year-old died on December 19.