Officer should have quit fatal chase, says authority

A police pursuit that ended in the death of a teenage passenger in a speeding car breached police policy and should have been abandoned, the Independent Police Conduct Authority says.

Jamie McElrea, 17, was killed when the car he was travelling in crashed into a bank, rolled and landed in a culvert.

The pursuit started after a North Shore police officer, who was not named, saw a Subaru driven by 18-year-old disqualified driver Troy Anderson and with two passengers speeding on the Hibiscus Coast Highway.

The officer followed the car for more than 1km at speeds above the highway's 80km/h speed limit, but did not activate his lights and siren to begin a pursuit.

The pursuit began as the Subaru was turning in to Pine Valley Rd but was abandoned when the car's speed exceeded 150km/h and the officer lost sight of it.

The pursuit began again when the officer caught up at an intersection, and the Subaru was driven at up to 170km/h for about 3.5km along a narrow, winding road. Its driver overtook other cars on blind corners while trying to elude the police car before crashing.

The authority found several breaches of police policy by the pursuing officer, including a lack of legal justification for exceeding the speed limit before beginning the pursuit.

He also did not tell the police northern communications centre when he began the pursuit, and should not have restarted it without authorisation from the communications centre.

He should have abandoned the pursuit when the driving of the Subaru became too dangerous, the authority said.

Authority chairwoman Justice Lowell Goddard said the risks posed by the pursuit outweighed the need to immediately apprehend the driver after the Subaru overtook the first vehicle.

The officer also acted inappropriately by driving through the crash scene.

But Justice Goddard said the primary responsibility for the fatal crash lay with Troy Anderson, who was intoxicated, drove at speed and lost control of his vehicle.

- NZPA