KEY POINTS:
When someone flees from a police checkpoint, it's not unusual for them to find a squad car in hot pursuit.
However, a Hastings man went one further than that last night.
The man screeched away from a police stop last night - only to discover he had an officer on board.
His adventure gives new meaning to that often used car-chase cliche, "we got company!"
In a case that sounds straight out of a "Dumb and Dumber" movie, the driver faces a raft of charges in the Hastings District Court today.
The man had been pulled over at a random police stop on the expressway between Napier and Hastings about 10.45pm.
As a police officer was partly in the car undertaking a search, the 26-year-old from Flaxmere drove off at speed.
The officer had no choice but to leap into the Holden and go for the ride, Senior Sergeant Dean Goodall, of Napier police, told NZPA.
The journey only lasted about 800m, before the officer was able to get the keys out of the ignition.
The driver now faces charges of possession of methamphetamine for supply, possession of cannabis, resisting police, escaping police custody, obstruction, resisting a police officer, assaulting a police officer, driving recklessly, and failing to stop.
Oh, and there's also that small matter of kidnapping a constable ...
- HERALD ONLINE STAFF, NZPA
