Beer bottle thrown at windscreen

A Gisborne family are feeling "lucky to be alive" after a terrifying incident while travelling through Raupunga in Hawke's Bay yesterday.

Gisborne man Peter Walters and his wife and daughter are feeling "lucky to be alive" after a terrifying incident while travelling through Raupunga in Hawke's Bay yesterday.

Walters picked up his wife and daughter from Napier airport after they had spent 10 days in London.

"We were coming back when on the Wairoa side of Raupunga I saw this guy standing on the door sill, holding the inside and hanging outside of a white car coming toward us.

"I said, 'Look at this idiot' and then he hurled a large bottle, that looked like a Steinlager bottle, straight at us. He was aiming for our main window and lucky for us it hit the corner post.

"It totally smashed the driver's window. Honestly, we were so lucky it hit the driver's side. It exploded all over us. We so easily could have been killed."

The incident happened about 4.45pm. Both cars would have been travelling at about 100km/h, Walters said.

"It was terrifying. It is totally unacceptable to have something like this happen. That person was aiming for our main window. He was out to kill us."

The white, four-door car looked to be full and the person who threw the bottle had a balaclava over his face.

Walters wanted to let people know about the incident so they could be aware.

"It was definitely premeditated. I was too busy looking at the idiot to notice too much about the car."

Walters immediately phoned 111 and called in to the Wairoa police station, but it was after hours and there was not much police could do.

This morning his car was a mess, he said, with broken glass all through it and dents on the bodywork.

"My wife and daughter have just been in some of the most dangerous parts of the world, and then we drive through a tinpot town like Raupunga and nearly get killed."

Wairoa police said they were investigating the incident.

"We have a detailed description of the offending vehicle," Detective Sergeant Daniel Kirk said.

"Police patrols were sent out immediately after the matter was reported in search of that vehicle, including police from Napier. The matter remains under investigation and we are following a strong line of inquiry."

- Gisborne Herald