Up to 10 boy racers held up traffic outside a Rotorua funeral home yesterday while they did burnouts as a "mark of respect" for a teenager who died in a car crash a week ago.
The funeral for 17-year-old Shaneel Sunjau Dutt, who died in a car accident in central Rotoruaon Wednesday night last week, had just finished.
A funeral director, who did not want to be named, said he was disgusted by the display and the manner in which the racers were being cheered on by high school students standing nearby.
However, one of the car racers said the display was done out of respect for Shaneel, who was a car lover.
"It was a tribute to Shaneel. Everyone did it just for him," the young man said.
The funeral director said the act could have caused a serious accident.
"At one point a Honda Civic (which was doing burnouts) lost control and spun into the south-bound lane, much to the cheering and clapping of those standing by. Traffic was really confused as to what was going on."
The funeral director said he was sure the act would have upset the family, but thankfully they had already left the funeral home before the burnouts started.
"The fact the young boy died in a motor vehicle accident, for them to behave like that, it makes it look like it didn't matter. It's almost an act of defiance.
"In some weird way it was probably done out of some form of respect but I got a bit angry, especially when I am called out at all hours of the night to pull bodies out of cars as a result of accidents."
