Man who fled scene of crash still on the run

A man who fled the scene of a crash on foot is still on the run from police despite extensive searches of the Christchurch suburb where he crashed.

The man crashed into a parked car at low speed in the St Martins area of the city around 10.50am yesterday, following a short car chase by police. He then fled the scene on foot, and has yet to be found.

However, police say they now have a positive line of inquiry, after a suspicious man approached a woman in the area asking to use her phone.

They also discovered a quantity of drugs in the car the man was driving, as well as a number of other items, after it was impounded by police and examined.

The incident started around 10.45am yesterday when a driver failed to stop for officers as they drove along Cashmere Rd.

A short pursuit was abandoned and the fleeing vehicle later collided at low speed with a parked car on Tennyson St. The driver then fled the scene on foot and was seen climbing over roofs and fences.

The area around the scene was cordoned off, and police officers spoke to all the residents living within the cordon. Residents were asked not to let any strangers into their house and to report any suspicious activity to police.

Some residents who returned to the area while cordons were in place asked police to escort them home as they had left their property unsecured, police said. Nothing untoward was found in any of the unsecured properties, police said today.

However, at around 4pm, one of the residents contacted police saying they had been approached by an unknown man an hour earlier, who asked to use the phone.

He was picked up by an unidentified person in a car a short time later, the resident told police.

Investigations into the incident were continuing, police said, including inquiries to determine whether the unknown man was the fleeing driver.