Motorist mounts footpath, ploughs car into illegal dirt bike riders taking a weekend joyride in Auckland. Video / Supplied
A motorist says she feared for her life and panicked when she drove onto a footpath and ploughed into dirt bike riders while trying to escape their Anzac Day joyride.
Her action is being defended by a friend who has revealed how the bikers violently reacted, turning on the motorist and her vehicle.
Last week, police said bikers had swarmed a car, which left the woman inside shaken and upset. But a spokeswoman said they were “not immediately aware of [a motorist hitting any bikers] being reported”.
A close friend of the motorist, who didn’t want to be named, has revealed to the Herald the two incidents were linked; the woman the bikers set upon was the same motorist who had earlier hit two of the riders.
A group of riders used their helmets and road signs to smash the windscreen and rear window, slashed tyres and badly beat the woman.
“Those low-lives then chased, swarmed [and began] smashing and attacking the car” after she hit the bikers, the friend told the Herald.
“The windshield was smashed, the back window was shattered, the car was kicked in all over. They used their helmets, road signs etc. Knives were also used to slash all four tyres,” the man claimed.
Illegal dirt bike riders allegedly smashed this car after the driver drove on to the footpath and ran into two of them, knocking them off their bikes amid a joyride on Anzac Day. Photo / Supplied
“But even worse, during this ordeal one of those scumbags opened the driver’s door & kicked her in the head & face at least five times. What a tough guy beating on a young lady all alone in the car,” he said.
Police called the assault “an appalling display of behaviour”, and said the riders fled the scene after the minutes-long horror.
Inspector Rakana Cook, relieving area commander for Counties Manukau East, said investigations were ongoing.
The woman’s friend said she ran into the bikers because she feared for her life and was panicking.
He said she was scared because the bikers had broken her wing mirror as she sat in traffic. He said the rider had an arrogant attitude and didn’t appear to care about the damage he’d caused.
The smashed-up car. Photo / Supplied
He then claimed more riders surrounded her.
“She saw a gap in traffic and tried to escape, that’s how she ended up on the footpath,” he said.
One of the dirt bikers who was hit told the Herald he wanted the woman to face charges.
Police earlier called the dirt bike riders extremely selfish and having little regard for safety after a horde of bikers tore around Auckland’s streets on Anzac Day.
Cook said the problem wasn’t new and police couldn’t solve it alone.
Cook called on the parents and family of the dirt bikers to take responsibility.
He said police have tried to hold these riders to account, “but the message does not seem to be getting through”.
Police have been investigating reports about the hundreds of bikers who disrupted traffic and intimidated motorists in Mt Wellington, Otara, and in east Auckland’s Pakuranga last Tuesday.
Cook said the bikies’ behaviour “could only be described as extremely selfish and with little regard for the safety of themselves or anyone else”.
A group of riders also started kicking a parked police car which was responding to callouts to the “unacceptable” behaviour, as officers inside watched them and took notes to follow up on, Cook said.
“Police have been carrying out enforcement work to target this behaviour but it is complex and not something which police can solve alone.
“This is ... challenging ... to deal with at the time due to safety for other road users and the riders themselves,” Cook said.
He said it was incredibly frustrating for police when motorcyclists had “absolutely no regard for the safety of others” and their behaviour was putting lives at risk.
He said anyone confronted by the riders should keep themselves safe and contact police.
