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Home / New Zealand

Couple cheat death, driver flees on foot after crashing into Massey houses, manhunt under way

Rachel Maher
By Rachel Maher
Multimedia Journalist·NZ Herald·
19 Feb, 2025 08:35 PM3 mins to read

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Aftermath of Massey houses car crash
A young couple awoke screaming and clutching each other after a car ploughed into their bedroom, stopping just centimetres from them. Video / Michael Craig
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      A young couple awoke screaming and clutching each other after a car ploughed into their bedroom, stopping just centimetres from them. Video / Michael Craig
      NOW PLAYING • Aftermath of Massey houses car crash
      A young couple awoke screaming and clutching each other after a car ploughed into their bedroom, stopping just centimetres from them. Video / Michael Craig

      A young couple awoke screaming and clutching each other after a car ploughed into their bedroom, stopping just centimetres from them.

      A manhunt is under way for the driver of a vehicle which left the road and careened down a bank, demolishing walls of two homes on Don Buck Rd, Massey, early today.

      The driver fled on foot before police arrived.

      A couple in one of the homes said they narrowly escaped death after they awoke to headlights in their bedroom. Photo / Michael Craig
      A couple in one of the homes said they narrowly escaped death after they awoke to headlights in their bedroom. Photo / Michael Craig

      A couple in one of the homes said they narrowly escaped death after they awoke to headlights in their bedroom.

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      After careening approximately 30m down a bank, through a fence and smashing the neighbouring home’s living room, the car ploughed through the couple’s bedroom wall, coming to rest just centimetres from the bed where they slept.

      “We were just in total shock,” said the man, who did not want to be named.

      “We basically just held each other in shock, sort of screaming, going like ‘what the hell is going on’.”

      Two homes suffered extensive damage after a car smashed into the Massey properties overnight.  Photo / Michael Craig
      Two homes suffered extensive damage after a car smashed into the Massey properties overnight. Photo / Michael Craig

      He said after the initial shock of the crash his partner jumped up to turn the car off and check to see if anyone in the car was injured.

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      The driver had already fled when they checked inside.

      “It’s a miracle we are alive,” the man said.

      The car careened down this bank and into the two houses. Photo / Michael Craig
      The car careened down this bank and into the two houses. Photo / Michael Craig

      The pair are now starting a lengthy clean-up process of the home they purchased only two months ago in December.

      Their neighbour Tsubasa is doing the same after the car took out his entire living room.

      He said he thought a car had crashed on the road before he went out of his bedroom and discovered his living room was no longer there.

      He said the incident was “scary” and was frantically calling insurance companies when he spoke to the Herald.

      A manhunt is under way for a driver who crashed into two houses on Don Buck Rd in Massey, West Auckland, before fleeing on foot on Thursday morning. Photo / Michael Craig
      A manhunt is under way for a driver who crashed into two houses on Don Buck Rd in Massey, West Auckland, before fleeing on foot on Thursday morning. Photo / Michael Craig

      The young couple said they wanted the driver to “just turn himself in”.

      Debris was strewn over the shared driveway and pieces of broken letter box were littered over the road above.

      The owners were sweeping up shards of glass and splintered wood from the windows and weatherboards destroyed in the crash.

      Manhunt for driver who fled carnage

      Meanwhile, a manhunt is under way for the driver.

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      Police said they were called to Don Buck Rd at 4.20am.

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      “Police were called after a vehicle travelling along Don Buck Rd entered a driveway and crashed through a fence and into two houses.”

      No one was injured, they said.

      A police spokesperson said they were called to Don Buck Rd at 4.20am. Photo / Hayden Woodward.
      A police spokesperson said they were called to Don Buck Rd at 4.20am. Photo / Hayden Woodward.

      The police said the driver abandoned the vehicle and fled on foot.

      “Inquiries are under way to locate them.”

      A driver fled on foot after crashing into houses on Don Buck Rd. Photo / Hayden Woodward.
      A driver fled on foot after crashing into houses on Don Buck Rd. Photo / Hayden Woodward.

      Anyone with information is being asked to call 105, referencing job number P061674840.

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      Information can also be provided anonymously via Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.

      Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

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