KEY POINTS:
The teenage occupants of a car that crashed during a high-speed police chase early yesterday have admitted the driver was drinking and clocking speeds of 180km/h.
All four teenagers in the car were injured. The driver's 17-year-old girlfriend, Anita Matangi, is still in hospital and expected to lose
a leg.
The driver's sister, Te Marie Rae, 14, was in the car at the time of the crash on Bairds Rd in south Auckland, early yesterday.
Te Marie told the Herald on Sunday her brother, 16-year-old Rae Rae, had been drinking bourbon while driving the Toyota their parents had bought for him to drive to work.
He had a restricted licence, which prohibits a driver from being on the road at night or carrying other passengers at any time.
"We were all drinking bourbon. He was drinking as well," she said.
Te Marie Rae said her brother was driving at speeds of up to 180km/h as the car was chased by two police vehicles and a police helicopter before eventually crashing 50m from the Otara Police Station.
The fourth person in the car was Te Marie's 14-year-old boyfriend, Sidney Brown.
"We started spinning for a while then crashed into the middle of the road. I had a sore arm," she said.
"My brother's girlfriend started screaming. I started crawling out of the back passenger's door and by the time I got out, Rae had pulled Anita out because the car was in flames. He was asking for an ambulance."
She said Anita Matangi's parents were angry with her brother.
Te Marie's mother, Puna Rae, said she received a telephone call about the crash at 5am.
"We were hoping for my son to come back from work (at a clothing company). When the telephone rang my husband and I thought 'Oh no'. I was angry with him, but I pray to God that Rae and his sister are all right. I hope he is sorry."
Mrs Rae said her son had been in trouble in connection with driving on previous occasions.
Rae Rae spoke openly on television about how he was drinking while driving before the high-speed chase.
"We were drinking and I was driving and I got pulled up and I didn't want a ticket so ended up [in a] high-speed chase," he told One News.
"We ended up flipping over a few times. I flew out the window."
Police say the three teenagers left in the car were hauled to safety by one of the officers at the scene. Manukau Central Police area commander Inspector Alan Shearer praised the police constable, in his mid-20s, for pulling the teens from the wreckage just in time.
"They have had an early Christmas, I think. I came out to the scene because I was sure that there would be a death involved."
According to police, a female officer unsuccessfully tried to stop the speeding vehicle on Great South Rd.
The Herald on Sunday learned that before the chase, the officer had pulled over the car and the driver had been "playing games" by stalling the vehicle before speeding off.
Eventually, the vehicle took off and turned right on to Bairds Rd. Another police patrol car later began the chase.
Witness Donovan Vaetoru, a 20-year-old caregiver from Otara, said he saw two police cars and the police Eagle helicopter chase the vehicle closely along Bairds Rd.
"I was just going to get a feed when I saw a station wagon fly around the road. It crashed then rolled for ages and landed in the middle of the road," he said.
"I just heard a bit of yelling, then the fire department was there. The vehicle was travelling fast. I think it was at about 120km/h."
Another witness said he saw up to eight police cars coming from both directions.
The crash is now the subject of a Police Complaints Authority hearing.
Mr Shearer said authority investigations were standard procedure with any accident after a police chase.
No charges had laid but the police investigation was continuing.
