'This guy's going to kill someone'

Vern Rosieur says his wife could have been killed when an object thrown from a motorway overbridge hit their car. Picture / Dean Purcell

A couple whose car was struck by an object thrown from a motorway overbridge - five months after a similar act took the life of Taupo man Chris Currie - are angered by the police response to their call.

Manurewa resident Vern Rosieur was driving north with his wife Maryanne on State Highway 1 on Sunday morning about 2am, when they saw a man standing on the Walter Strevens overbridge, just before the Manurewa off-ramp.

"He threw something straight down on top of the vehicle, which struck the passenger side just above the left headlight, smashing the light and putting a dent in the panel work," Mr Rosieur said.

"It made a hell of a racket and gave us such a bloody hell of a fright that we actually pulled over. I hopped out of the vehicle and the guy was still throwing stuff at other vehicles going past, missing two other cars."

He called the police immediately to report it.

"As I was talking to the [police] dispatcher, he was still throwing stuff. I thought, 'Hell, this guy's going to bloody kill someone'."

The incident comes five months after Chris Currie was killed instantly when a concrete slab, dropped off an Auckland motorway overbridge, crashed through the windscreen of the car he was driving.

The incident sparked a series of copycat incidents that enraged police. But Mr Rosieur was left disappointed with the police response.

"They [police] said to me just to wait where we were, and just let them know what he's doing. He started moving off and I told them which way he was going."

He said the dispatcher told the Rosieurs to stay put and hung up, and then called back 10 minutes later to say they would send a unit soon to check it out.

"And they told us to carry on, so we did. I think that's pretty useless. I'm disappointed because of what happened to [Chris Currie]."

Police spokeswoman Philippa White said two callers, including Mr Rosieur, contacted police about the objects thrown on to the motorway.

A female motorist rang 111 at 2.09am, saying she had driven over an object that had been thrown from the bridge.

The call was coded a priority two job, but Ms White said it should have been coded as urgent priority.

Police always treat object-throwing on to the motorway as urgent, and the incorrect coding would be investigated, she said.

Mr Rosieur's call was received at 2.19am.

Ms White said a police unit was sent to the scene. It arrived at 2.26am, but did not find anything suspicious.

However, Mr Rosieur's cellphone records a call from the communications centre at 2.31am and he says the dispatcher told him a police car would be sent to the area later.

Mr Rosieur fears the man responsible will continue to throw rocks at oncoming vehicles.

"If he's done it once he'll probably do it again. We had an accident and were hit inches away from the windscreen where my wife would have been seriously injured or bloody killed.

"Why bother ringing the police if that's what they're going to do?"