Officer involved in Maramarua fatal crash 'distressed'

The scene of the fatal Maramarua car crashes. Photo / NZPA

A "distressed" police officer who pulled over a speeding driver later involved in a fatal crash that killed three teens in Waikato will speak to crash investigators.

The 18-year-olds died at the scene when their car and a utility collided about 8.10pm on State Highway 2 at Maramarua, one of the country's worst accident blackspots.

Mary Jane Jo Vanna Kingi-Te Purei, Tiata Te Arohanui Maxwell and their male friend, Te Maungarongo Te Kuiri Kingi, all of Poverty Bay, left Gisborne on Tuesday to travel to south Auckland.

The families of the three teenagers are preparing to bury them this weekend.

The officer stopped the car in Matawhai, near Gisborne, after she had clocked speeds of 130km/h, and issued her with an infringement notice for speeding.

Gisborne police area commander Inspector Sam Aberahama said police would speak to the officer involved during their crash investigation.

"The police officer who pulled the car over earlier that day will be spoken to in the course of that investigation. My thoughts are with my staff member. I have spoken to him and he is distressed and we have put some support around him," he told the Gisborne Herald.

Mr Aberahama described the accident as a "tragedy for Gisborne".

"My sympathies go out to the families of those who were killed."

Ms Maxwell's mother, Averline Maxwell, said it was every parent's worst nightmare.

"When you get a knock on the door and a police lady is there saying your daughter's name ... you just can't comprehend it," she said.

Skella Campbell is the grandmother of Ms Kingi-Te Purei and aunt of Mr Kingi.

"I was in disbelief. Now it is slowly sinking in," she said.

"They arrived home about 1.30am today and that was when it clicked - it seemed real," she said yesterday.

The stretch of SH2, between Pokeno and the turnoff to Thames, is known as the "unforgiving highway". Thirty-one people have died and 56 have been badly hurt in crashes on it in the past seven years.

- NZPA