Cop at fault in fatal police chase

Two officers have been censured over two separate police pursuits, one of which ended with a fatality. Photo / file

Two experienced police officers have been censured over two separate pursuits which left one man dead and another with serious head injuries.

The Independent Police Complaints Authority (IPCA) today released findings showing an officer breached policy when he did not activate his lights or tell communications officers he was involved in a fatal pursuit near Palmerston North in May last year.

Another officer travelled at "undesirable" speeds and failed to activate his lights in a pursuit at Lower Hutt in November last year, the authority said.

In the first pursuit, an officer known as Officer A, chased a black Honda driven by 25-year-old Jason Downes after clocking him racing another car at 128km/hr in a 50km/hr zone.

The two cars turned their headlights off and accelerated to an estimated speed of about 190km/hr in an effort to evade the officer.

He did not activate his siren as he followed the cars down Pioneer Highway near Longburn at high speeds.

Transcripts given to the IPCA show he told a communications officer he was not pursuing the cars, despite travelling at high speed in a 50km/hr zone.

The chase ended when Downes braked suddenly to avoid another car.

His Honda slid across the road and hit a tree before landing in a drainage ditch filled with water in two pieces.

Downes died at the scene.

The pursuing officer did not see the crash and went on to arrest a 16-year-old pair who had been travelling in the other car when they crashed at a traffic island.

IPCA findings show the officer should not have followed the two Honda cars at speed without his warning lights activated.

Telling communications officers he was not involved in a pursuit when he was travelling at high speed and following an offender broke police policy, the authority said.

In a second pursuit at Lower Hutt, an officer pursued 26-year-old Benjamin Eden after seeing him accelerate sharply out of a roundabout.

The officer suspected Eden was under the influence of alcohol, though toxicology results later found that was not the case.

Eden, who had a history of driving offences, drove away from the officer at speeds of about 150km/hr in a 80km/hr zone.

He crashed into a power pole while trying to navigate a bend and received serious head injuries.

The IPCA found the officer failed to activate his warning lights during the pursuit.

It said matching Eden's speed of 140-150km/hr was also "undesirable" in the circumstances.

Both officers were referred for remedial training. The IPCA recommended police clarify their police around following vehicles at speed.