Police investigate traffic offences at Hastings tangi procession

Tangi procession for Nevara Raheke, a member of the Mongrel Mob's Notorious chapter, from Ruahapia Marae, Ruahapia, Hastings, pictured on Karamu Rd, Hastings. 07 December 2017 NEWS Hawke's Bay Today P

Eastern district police are investigating a number of potential traffic offences related to a Mongrel Mob tangi procession through the centre of Hastings on Thursday last week.

Traffic management was called on for the event, following the death of Nevara Raheke, 47, on Friday, November 1, after arriving at Hawke's Bay Hospital with critical injuries on November 17.

About 10 hot rods, 15 motorcycles and a long line of other vehicles took part in the procession, which sparked complaints about driver and passenger behaviour, including allowing passengers to ride dangerously and people not wearing safety belts.

The police posted to their Facebook page that they shared the public's concern about some of the behaviour, and assured that these matters were being investigated.

Yesterday, a police spokesperson said they had identified the registration numbers of the vehicles involved.

"Several of the vehicles are registered to out-of-town people – those matters will be passed on to the relevant police districts to deal with. Offending by vehicles owned locally will be dealt with by Hawke's Bay police."

There had not been any arrests made as yet, and it was likely that most of the offending would be dealt with by way of infringement notices, the spokesperson said.

They were not aware of any disorder-type offending relating to the tangi.

While some people complained about the behaviour, others defended the actions of those involved as well as the police.

"They got the tangi procession through quickly and as orderly as possible. And the whanau and fellow members were mourning in their own way. I saw the whole procession and didn't find any of it offensive or disgusting, in fact I thought it was pretty powerful," said one.

Another said that police were just "humans in uniform...if you think they can get out the magic stick and control a crowd like that then you needa lay off the harry potter...sometimes it's better to manage the situation, not go head to head...life goes on people".