A Police officer setting up road spikes in Otara was nearly run down by a stolen car late on Monday, the area commander says.
“It’s incredibly lucky the officer managed to get out of the way,” Counties Manukau East Area Commander Inspector Rod Honan said in a statement on Tuesday.
The Police Eagle helicopter crew located a stolen Toyota Aqua travelling through East Tamaki just after 11pm on Monday, 3 August, and alerted staff on the ground so spikes could be set up, Police said.
“As the vehicle approached this intersection near Bairds Road and Waipapa Crescent the driver drove across Bairds Road, mounted the berm and appears to have attempted to run down an officer setting up spikes,” Honan said.
“Reckless acts like this will not be tolerated.”
Honan said the car then continued along the Southern Motorway at excessive speed and with no headlights on.
He said it exited at Papakura, where it was spiked, and came to a stop on Dominion Road.
All four occupants were taken into custody, he said.
Police said the four, aged 13 to 15, have been referred to Youth Aid Services.
Under Police youth justice policy a Youth Aid referral is one of the alternatives to filing charges, and can lead to a warning, a diversion plan agreed with Police, or a referral for a family group conference.
Bairds Road runs through Otara, which sits inside the Counties Manukau East policing area alongside Howick and Beachlands.
It is the second fleeing-driver release Honan has fronted in a week.
On 28 July he said units repeatedly spiked a stolen MG, sought over an aggravated robbery in Forrest Hill two days earlier, after it was seen being driven on the wrong side of the road at dangerous speeds.
A 34-year-old man was arrested and was due to appear in the Manukau District Court that day charged with dangerous driving, failing to stop, resisting police and unlawfully taking a motor vehicle.
Police said a second group found the same morning, allegedly linked to a burglary at a Takanini tech repair shop, included an 18-year-old man and two 17-year-old males who were charged with unlawfully taking a motor vehicle and burglary, and a 13-year-old male who was to be referred to Youth Aid.
“I’d like to acknowledge the professionalism of staff involved in bringing this incident to a safe resolution,” Honan said of Monday night’s incident.
