Video has emerged of a truck driver being attacked by a group of men after an incident in Auckland
Boy racers involved in an attack on a truck driver in Auckland claim they were provoked and didn't plan to assault the man.
They're also now calling for calm since the attack on truck driver Jordan Martin, 21, due to many of them being sent death threats - including the owner of the Honda Integra involved in the incident - who had received more than 100 threats.
Martin escaped serious injury after being bashed over the head with a mini fridge, which was inside the cab of his truck, as well as a piece of wood after swiping one of the boy racer's cars at an illegal street meet on Friday night.
Up to 200 cars gathered around Industry Rd, Penrose, to race up and down the street on Friday night. Most fled once police arrived.
Industry Rd is an industrial area and a busy thoroughfare for trucks.
About midnight, Martin, 21, had just left Owen's Transport Depot on South Down Lane and turned left into Industry Rd where he clipped, then dragged a Honda Integra up the road.
Martin told the Herald yesterday he didn't realise he had hit the car and carried on driving until the road ahead of him was blocked by some of the boy racers.
He said one man got in through the passenger side and began hitting him with his mini fridge before throwing it at the windscreen.
His boss Paul Stone, of Blue Ice Transport in Rotorua, says the attack caused thousands of dollars worth of damage to his truck to its interior and front grill area.
The owner of a car swiped by a truck claims the truck later tried to shunt him off the road after asking him to pull over, and says his car suffered this damage. Photo/Supplied
However a relative of the owner of the Honda that was swiped by Martin's truck claims he twice tried to swerve into them - once into a motorbike, missing it, and the second time the Honda Integra, hitting its right rear side.
Both claims have been dismissed by Stone - who said Martin wouldn't have pulled over if he'd tried to crash into them.
The boy racer, who was there on the night, disputed the road was blocked off and said they were having a break in between races and there weren't any cars on the road.
"The road wasn't blocked. If it was he wouldn't have been able to get through."
He said the Honda was dragged "20m to 30m" up the road by the truck before it came loose.
The owner of a car swiped by a truck claims the truck later tried to shunt him off the road after asking him to pull over, and says his car suffered this damage to the rear panel. Photo/Supplied
A friend on a motorbike then gave chase, catching up to the truck and yelling at him to pull over because he'd just hit a car. However, he claims Martin told him he "didn't care" and swerved at him, narrowly missing.
That pushed the truck Into the opposite lane and by this stage, the Honda driver had caught up and also yelled at him to pull over, however the man claims Martin again swerved at him, hitting the rear right side of the Honda.
He said the truck was eventually forced to stop after cars managed to get in front of it.
"And that's when people started smashing everything ... it wasn't just 'oh you hit the car and we're going to attack you'.
"Yeah, the truck driver got attacked and his truck got damaged but ... if he had have stopped and pulled over there wouldn't have been a problem."
He claims police took photos of the damage to the Honda on the night.
The owner of the car swiped by a truck on Friday night claims the driver tried to shunt him off the road. This photo taken earlier on the night proves there was no prior damage,he says. Photo/Supplied
He says the point in the video where people can be heard yelling "get out of the truck" were comments directed at their friends who had climbed in and they were not yelling at the truck driver.
"There's another guy involved ... and it shows him stepping up and talking to [Martin]. That's all he's doing, he was just talking."
When questioned about the person who carried out the fridge assault, the man said "I don't know what happened there".
He said they weren't a violent crowd it was simply a bunch of friends who met up to show off their cars.
"It's a bit unfortunate because a lot of people have posted my family member's address online and he's had 100 death threats from people saying 'we're going to kill you'. It's got a bit out of hand.
"We're not the people that they're portraying. I just want people to know the real story."
He said those responsible for the assault and theft have been spoken to by police.
"It's just shit because this guy has gone and sort of made it out to be the boy racers which has shed a bad light. The general public already don't like the boy racers. [Martin] needs to be honest."
He also disputed they were all "kids".
"There was no one there under the age of 20. We've got responsible jobs and responsible lives. Yes we were at an illegal car meet, but the reason we were there is because there's no public down there."
