Reveller dies on beach

A Tauranga man who was hanging from a car as it drove along a Mt Manganui beach was run over and killed when the vehicle hit a log.

Police said Jordan McGregor, 23, was one of two people clinging to the outside of the car as it travelled down Omanu Beach at 1am last Sunday.

The car ran into a large log on the sand and then ran over McGregor after he was thrown off.

Bay of Plenty police communications manager Jacky James said the 23-year-old driver blew a reading of 446 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath when tested by police. The legal limit is 400mcg. Four other people were in the car at the time.

She said it was unclear whether the driver would face charges.

"They were not going very fast and so he was not 'carsurfing' in that sense of the word," said James.

"There were four people inside the vehicle and two were literally catching a lift off the outside as the car drove slowly down the beach.

"When the car hit a log, he fell off from where he was hanging on to. It is a really unfortunate accident."

Jordan's father, Duncan McGregor, said his son's death was "too raw" to talk about when contacted this week.

The family held a "celebration of Jordan's life" at the Oropi Hot Pools in Tauranga on Friday morning, followed by a private cremation.

McGregor's death is the latest in a series of carsurfing accidents in the past two years.

A 26-year-old New Plymouth woman was seriously injured after she was catapulted from the roof of her partner's car in January.

People living near the site of the incident said a group of friends had been drinking before deciding to go for a drive.

A Christchurch man was crushed when the van he and four others were carsurfing on rolled on Okains Bay beach last October.

The man was riding on the van's roof on the Banks Peninsula beach after an all-night rave. He was revived by a passer-by and airlifted to hospital.

In December 2008, 6-year-old Asher Duncan escaped a carsurfing incident with just grazes and bumps after being flung from a station wagon being driven by his 16-year-old sister.

Witnesses said the Havelock North boy was riding on the back of the car when he fell off, skidded along the road and into a gutter.

rebecca.lewis@hos.co.nz