Police look over the car the teenager fell from while car-surfing in Takapuna. Photo / Dean Purcell
Police look over the car the teenager fell from while car-surfing in Takapuna. Photo / Dean Purcell
KEY POINTS:
A teenager is in hospital with serious head injuries after riding on the boot of a friend's moving car.
Police say the act, known as "car-surfing", is dangerous and can have fatal consequences.
The 18-year-old fell from the Mitsubishi Lancer about 6.15 last night on The Strand inTakapuna.
He had ridden about 50m before falling, said Sergeant Cecil Ross of the North Shore strategic traffic unit.
The youth was taken to Auckland City Hospital with serious head injuries but they were not considered life-threatening.
The Waitemata serious crash unit is investigating.
The male driver of the car was breath-tested at the scene but had not been drinking.
Two females were also passengers in the car.
The driver was on a restricted licence so was not legally allowed to carry passengers.
Police have yet to decide whether to charge him and the injured car-surfer.
Car-surfing has claimed at least three lives in the past few years, including that of Huntly teenager Chase Dix, who was killed in Morrinsville in March while riding on the boot of a car just hours after attending the funeral of a friend.
In at least two of the cases police have chosen to prosecute the drivers, with varying results.
In May, Jhevell Smith, 32, was found not guilty of dangerous driving causing death after 17-year-old Boydie Roberts died near Te Puke while climbing out the window to car-surf in 2005.
Last year, Jamie Mackay died near Greymouth after falling from the roof of a car driven by Jessie Scott, who was later found guilty of dangerous driving causing death.
