Revving upsets mourners at teens funeral

Mourners at funerals for two of the Hastings youths killed in Friday's horrific car smash were shocked yesterday as the boys' friends revved their vehicles in tribute, oblivious to the pain they were causing grieving family members.
As the hearse carrying the coffin of 17-year-old Michael Jeffries pulled away from the Hastings Racecourse, the driver of a vehicle carrying pallbearers and following the hearse pulled a "handbrakey" in the loose gravel in the car park in front of a dismayed crowd.
An upset woman approached the driver, telling him to stop.
Before doing the burn-out, the pallbearers had piled into the white, souped-up car, with "In Loving Memory of Stephen Temperton; 1987-2005" embossed in white italics, a telling reminder that they had gone through all this two weeks ago.
A similar incident had occurred earlier in the day at the funeral of 17-year-old Che Orbell-Pere, when Che's close friends, including his girlfriend Ashleigh Harris, climbed into a modified van and revved the engine before following the hearse from Hastings' Sacred Heart Church, out on to Heretaunga Street.
Funerals for Dylan Brittin, 16, and Alex Scales, 15, were to be held today.
The four boys were killed when their turbo-charged Mazda Familia ploughed into a tree on Hastings' Windsor Avenue on Friday night. None wore a seatbelt.
Two other boys in the car, Jaydden Brittin, 15, and Ricky Moulder, 16, remain in Hawke's Bay Hospital. Jaydden is seriously ill but improving, while Ricky is in a stable condition but improving.
Meanwhile, police have revealed one boy in the car had a full driver's licence, one had no licence and the other four ranged between being on learner and restricted licences. Investigations are continuing to determine who was driving.
Hastings Police area commander Inspector Dean Clifford said as well as investigating the crash, police were monitoring driver behaviour around Hastings. Staff on Windsor Avenue were checking driver speeds and had reported no real issues so far. Police on night shift had also kept an eye on the crash site.
Mr Clifford said August was a month in which police traditionally targeted speed. A campaign to reduce speed was planned to start in Hastings next week. He said he had received lots of feedback from parents saying they were now sitting down to have "meaningful conversations" with their children about speeding.
Asked about the possibility of speed bumps being installed on Windsor Avenue, Mr Clifford said bumps were effective in certain situations, although care had to be taken over where they were placed.
Police were still working on reconstructing the crash and determining the boys' movements before it.