KEY POINTS:
A policeman who crashed an unmarked car into a lamp-post which fell and left a teenage boy fighting for his life has been charged with driving offences.
Farhat Buksh, 13, suffered brain injuries and a fractured neck when he was hit by the falling lamp-post while walking across a pedestrian crossing outside an Auckland primary school.
The police car was chasing a vehicle which allegedly avoided a nearby alcohol checkpoint - the offender was never caught.
The freak accident in August put Farhat in a coma for a week and he still cannot remember anything from the day it happened.
Senior Sergeant Tony Edwards, the officer in charge of the investigation, confirmed the officer driving the car would face a charge of careless driving causing injury.
"Some documentation has been served," said Edwards. "A member will be appearing next week in the Auckland District Court."
The Police Complaints Authority (PCA) is also investigating the incident, and recently announced a review of police chase protocol after Farhat's injuries and a string of other recent accidents and deaths.
However, the Police Association has warned that the review should not shift blame away from offenders and it was "nonsensical" to blame police officers for any tragedies.
There have been 6000 police chases in the past three years - that's an average of 162 each month - and 12 people were killed in crashes and 106 injured between April 2004 and May 2007.
Farhat and his grandmother Nisha Ali were pleased that someone was facing charges because of the accident.
But she said Farhat was "lucky to be alive". Both said they would prefer police take down car registrations and track the plate later, rather than chase at high speed.
The teenager is back at Mt Roskill Grammar School but only for a few hours each day.
Surgeons have given him the all-clear on his fractured neck and Farhat's memory is beginning to return. If his brain scans come back clean in a few weeks, he may be able to play cricket soon.
The PCA investigation into the accident will determine if the officer had followed correct police protocol.
The pursuit had been under way for about a minute, but the constable had not contacted communications staff about the chase or whether it should be continued.
Witnesses told the Herald on Sunday that the unmarked car's lights and sirens were not flashing.
Police initially said they believed the police vehicle had been travelling about 70km/h in a 50km/h school zone. Under police pursuit policy, police must turn on their lights and sirens as soon as the vehicle is travelling faster than the speed limit.
The separate PCA review of chase policy was ordered after a string of incidents shortly after Farhat's accident - the first time the rules have been reviewed since 2003.
Only hours after Farhat was hit, Cameron Gubb's face was cut when a car being chased by police drove straight through a New Plymouth intersection and rammed his car.
A week after Farhat and Gubb were injured, 17-year-old Luke Wooster was killed when his high-powered car crashed into a bridge near Hastings.
Only on his restricted licence, Wooster was fleeing from police at speeds of up to 180km/h.
Just last week, a high-speed chase on the Desert Rd ended when the driver of the car swerved to avoid road spikes and was hospitalised in critical condition.
The 2003 guidelines were tightened after three deaths in two high-profile chases. Police guidelines introduced then put safety ahead of arrests and supervisors were told they could order chases to be abandoned.
Justice Lowell Goddard, who heads the PCA, said it was concerned about the frequency of fatal and serious injury police pursuits.
