KEY POINTS:
An 18-year-old woman is dead after the driver of the car she was a passenger in fled a police check in Timaru yesterday.
Vianne Marie Shead, of Temuka, died in Timaru Hospital yesterday morning after the car crashed following an abandoned police chase.
Police said that the pursuit began after the car failed to stop at a routine police check in Church Street, Timaru, at 3.17am yesterday.
Police took off after the car but the pursuit was abandoned when the vehicle was lost in the rural area south of Pleasant Point.
About 15 minutes later St John Ambulance received a call from an occupant in the car reporting an accident in the Taiko area, 19km north-west of Timaru. The occupant had no idea what road the accident happened on
Police located the car on Doake Road and five of the six occupants were admitted to Timaru Hospital with serious and minor injuries.
Miss Shead died three hours later.
Police said that inquiries into the accident were continuing.
It was the first reported death on the roads of the weekend.
- NZPA
