A driver high on methamphetamine who caused a serious crash that left a grandmother critically injured previously served jail time for possessing explosives and being caught with a detective’s identification badge stolen from a police officer’s car.
The early-morning Auckland accident on December 19 ignited an online witch-hunt after the man was photographed at the crash site holding a bottle and the victim’s family mistakenly claimed the offender was drunk.
Kyle Jack Fataiki, 46, appeared in Auckland District Court yesterday via audio-visual link from Mt Eden Corrections Facility.
He pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and driving under the influence of drugs causing injury.
Charges of possessing methamphetamine and drug utensils were withdrawn by police.
Fataiki was remanded in custody by Judge Andrea Manuel. He could face up to five years in prison or a fine of $20,000 when he is sentenced in September.
A police summary of facts, released to the Herald, says the 73-year-old victim’s family were heading to Auckland Airport about 4.55am.
As they turned right at the Maioro St interchange to enter the Northwestern Motorway, Fataiki – driving a black Range Rover – ran a red light “at speed” and collided with their red Mazda “with significant force”.
The Mazda spun out of control before crashing into a concrete barrier. Fataiki’s SUV also crashed into the barrier.
Two other vehicles were also caught up in the crash. All four received extensive damage.
The grandmother was travelling in a rear passenger seat. She suffered life-threatening injuries and spent more than five weeks in hospital.
She underwent two emergency surgeries and requires ongoing rehabilitation.
Fataiki was spoken to at the scene, telling police he had not been drinking and had “fallen asleep”. He later admitted running the red light.
A blood test carried out on Fataiki was found to contain 1100 nanograms of methamphetamine per millilitre of blood.
The summary says that under the Land Transport Act, 50ng/mL is considered a “high-risk blood concentration” of the drug.
Court documents show the crash is not Fataiki’s first brush with the law.
He was jailed in September 2021 for a raft of offences, including unlawful possession of explosives, methamphetamine and dishonesty offending.
In December 2020, Fataiki was pulled over by police in Te Atatū South after checks revealed he had an active warrant to arrest.
During a search of his vehicle, police found meth pipes, electronic scales, numerous empty “point bags”, a quantity of the drug, a shotgun cartridge and a stolen guitar and bike.
They also found a detective’s photo identification tag and badge, which had been stolen from the officer’s car six years earlier in Manukau.
Fataiki was jailed for 20 months (later reduced to 17.5 months on appeal) with a judge noting his “troubling” list of previous convictions, which included drugs, firearms offending and reckless driving.
It emerged that Fataiki had earlier been jailed in 2014 for driving while disqualified and more recently for “other offending”. He had absconded from electronically-monitored bail “immediately upon release”.
Shortly after the December crash, a social media post titled “SEARCHING FOR THE DRUNK DRIVER THAT CAUSED THIS MESS” appeared on the Checkpoint Watch Auckland Facebook page.
The post described the ordeal of a family whose pre-Christmas airport trip ended in a crash that injured five relatives and left the grandmother in intensive care.
The Facebook post included a photo of a man holding an object that many viewers claimed was an alcoholic drink, sparking a viral hunt for a supposed drunk driver.
“On the 19th December 2025, this man, right here, crashed into the red van and is the reason 5 people are in hospital. After the crash, home boy had the AUDACITYYY [sic] to hop out the car with a bottle of SOMETHING in his hand,” the post read.
Police later confirmed alcohol played no part in the crash but were unable to say at the time whether other intoxicating substances were involved.
At the time, police issued a statement warning the public that online accusations were “unhelpful” and risked harming innocent individuals.
When contacted by the Herald in January, the victim’s son-in-law, who was driving the red Mazda, said the crash was shocking.
“I felt like I died for like three seconds and then I woke up and was like, ‘Oh, shoot, we crashed and someone hit us’.”
The grandmother was seated in the back with her husband and their 9-year-old grandson. Her son-in-law was driving, with her son in the front seat.
The family said the Range Rover struck them on the left side, spinning the Mazda. The grandmother suffered a broken neck, pelvis and ribs, a head injury and a torn aorta.
The rest of the family members were bruised and shaken.
Their third party-insured car was written off.
Lane Nichols is Auckland desk editor for the New Zealand Herald with more than 20 years’ experience in the industry.
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