KEY POINTS:
A woman who allegedly drove along a footpath and through a group of six pedestrians - including a 13 year-old girl - could well have been copying recent tragedies she had seen in the media, police say.
One of the pedestrians, a 23-year-old woman from Hastings, was last night in hospital with severe bruising to her thigh, abrasions to her body after she scraped the road, and suspected internal bleeding.
The other five people were uninjured - but police were investigating a 14-year-old boy's claims that he had spent the night drinking in a pub.
Detective Glenn Restieaux said police were hunting for the female driver of a dark green Toyota Rav4, who, witnesses said, deliberately drove about 30m along a Hastings footpath at about 7.30 yesterday morning, before running down the woman, turning around and racing off.
Restieaux said the driver could well have taken her cue for the "flavour" of the attack from previous incidents - such as the Saturday night in Christchurch three weeks ago, in which two girls died after a car rammed through an overflowing party.
"[She heard about] cars driving into people and thought, 'why not?'... It's just all in the papers at the moment, isn't it?" said Restieaux.
The shocked group told police that the woman and her female passenger were strangers they had met a party - both were in their late 20s, and the driver was thin with long black hair, and wearing jeans and a black jacket.
Restieaux said the injured woman had spent the night drinking with the group at a bar in Hastings, before moving when the pub closed at 3am on to a party near Heretaunga St, where the hit-and-run occurred.
The 14-year-old boy told police he had been with the group at the pub, but the 13-year-old girl had joined them at the party.
It was early morning when the six decided to get a ride home with the two women.
They had travelled only a few kilometres before a comment from one of the men - about the woman allegedly speeding and running red lights - triggered an altercation and the group were dumped out to walk home, Restieaux said.
"More words were spoken, a few fists have flown... The two females got back in [the car] then they've basically mounted the footpath and driven at them. One's seen the car coming and yelled, but the one who got hit didn't hear the yell, or was too slow."
