After midnight they decided to head into Wellington and keep partying. Against the advice of the party’s host, Taingahue and four of his friends got into his black Mazda.
With the music blaring they drove towards the capital reaching speeds of up to 180km/h, almost double the speed limit.
While driving down an area known as “the quays”, which runs adjacent to the capital’s waterfront, they ran a red light where a police car was waiting at the intersection. By this time traffic cameras indicated the car was travelling at about 70km/h.
Concerned at the Mazda’s speed and the fact it was weaving between other cars, the police gave chase. The two officers later told the authority they were keen to stop the car because of the risk it posed to other drivers and pedestrians.
Inside the car, the passengers noticed the police were following with their lights on. At this point, the report found Taingahue panicked and sped up. Despite the passengers urging him to slow down or even stop, he would not, instead increasing his speed.
The police officers followed the car down the quays, reaching speeds of up to 70-80 km/h. But on Jervois Quay with the Mazda speeding ahead, the officer decided to stop trying to catch the car as he believed it was too far ahead.
He turned his lights off. About 30 seconds later the police car drove into Cable St and they found the Mazda had crashed into a building. The crash site was just over a kilometre from where police had first seen it.
Taingahue and his passenger (whose name is redacted) died in the crash and the three other passengers were injured.
Post-mortem results revealed Taingahue had a blood alcohol level of 174 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath. Aged just 19 and on a learner’s licence, he shouldn’t have had any alcohol in his system. Tests also confirmed he had traces of cannabis and synthetic cannabis in his blood.
The IPCA report found while it was appropriate for the police to try to stop the car, by activating the emergency lights and siren in their attempt to do so, it is likely they inadvertently influenced Taingahue to keep driving dangerously.
It also found that the officers breached the Fleeing Driver Policy because neither officer discussed their options before signalling the driver to stop.
They also failed to tell the Emergency Communications Centre at the earliest opportunity that the car had fled. But the IPCA found the officers’ actions didn’t have any impact on the outcome.
In a statement, Wellington police said they were pleased that recommendations that arose from this crash had been adopted. These include doubling the amount of driver training at Police College from 4.5 to 9 hours, with a session specifically focused on safe resolution of fleeing drivers.
Wellington District Commander Superintendent Corrie Powell said the crash had a lasting impact on all involved.
“We feel for the two families and friends who lost their loved ones, the passengers who were injured, and for two officers who were confronted with a tragedy that never needed to happen.
“Sadly, this crash was a result of a young driver’s bad decisions; a decision to ignore the friend who told him not to drive, a decision to ignore the passengers who asked him to slow down, and a decision to flee police,” he said.
Catherine Hutton is an Open Justice reporter, based in Wellington. She has worked as a journalist for 20 years, including at the Waikato Times and RNZ. Most recently she was working as a media advisor at the Ministry of Justice.
