ROGER MORONEY
Police investigators were this morning still at the scene of a car crash just south of the Ellison Street boundary on Marine Parade, Napier, last night which left one young man dead and four others in hospital.
The dead man is Matthew Marwood, 22, of Napier, who was a backseat
passenger in the car.
The crash happened on a straight stretch of State Highway 2 about 1km south of the boundary. No other vehicle was involved and initial scene examinations showed the car had veered off the highway and slid across wet grass before slamming side-on into a roadside pine.
The crash happened about 9.30pm and police said it was raining at the time.
Mr Marwood's family lived in Levin and arrived in Napier this morning. An aunty who lived locally had been assisted by police welfare officers in carrying out the formal identification of her nephew.
All the car's occupants are from Napier.
Two of them, Steven Heremia and Dillan Rogers-Miller, both 20, were in Hawke's Bay Hospital's intensive care unit. Mr Heremia had serious head injuries and Mr Rogers-Miller a broken pelvis.
David Gregan, also 20, and 19-year-old Grant Tyler had minor to moderate injuries and had been kept in overnight for observation.
The driver of the car had been routinely tested for blood-alcohol but police would not comment on whether alcohol was a factor.
Crash specialist engineers were today examining the car to see if there had been any mechanical failure.
The stretch of SH2 between the Ellison Street intersection of Marine Parade and the Awatoto turn-off into Te Awa Avenue was closed off with traffic diverted along Te Awa Avenue. The road was expected to be re-opened late this morning.
Traffic sergeant Bruce Dean said police wanted to retrace the movements of the car before the crash and asked for any sightings of the vehicle. It is a dark blue four-door Honda Integra, with distinctive, polished alloy wheels.
It was the third fatal crash in the Napier district this year and the eighth in Hawke's Bay.
