Mother, daughter trapped after alleged hit-and-run

Police road markings at the scene of the crash. Photo / Doug Sherring

A mother has lashed out in anger at being trapped in a car with her two injured children while an alleged hit-and-run driver sped off.

Stacey Kaye, 38, had been taking two of her three children home from a hockey match when they were allegedly struck from behind by a speeding Mazda 8.

Residents in Bankwood Rd heard "an almighty bang" and came out to find Kaye and her 12-year-old daughter screaming for help from inside their crushed Subaru.

Her 8-year-old boy had managed to free himself from the wreckage and waited while firefighters used the jaws of life to free the others.

Last night Kaye was having scans at Waikato Hospital and was believed to have suffered a fractured vertebra. She told how she was stunned by what had happened to her and her children.

"She can't get it out of her head," Waikato Hospital spokeswoman Mary Anne Gill said. "She just hopes it doesn't happen to anyone else. She's in a lot of pain."

Kaye's two children were discharged with minor injuries.

Their grandparents, who were on the scene within minutes, had to be held back as firefighters used the jaws of life to free the trapped.

A damaged car was found nearby and a person was arrested soon after.

Gill said Kaye was grateful to the Fairfield residents who helped her in the minutes after the crash.

Natasha Cox raced out with blankets for the injured. "Apparently someone in the car said 'go, go, go' before the vehicle sped off."

John Gilchrist, who saw the aftermath of the crash, said the family car had been shunted more than 10m by the force of the impact and embedded in a tree outside Gilchrist's house. "They were bloody lucky. All the [car] doors were ripped off [by the rescuers]." The car stopped just short of a power pole.

The area, close to Fairfield College, was a notorious boyracing spot and had been plagued by speeding vehicles.

"They rip through here like nothing. That's not the first accident outside here," said one resident, who did not want to be named, recalling a "massive smash" two or three years earlier.

A teenager appeared in Hamilton District Court yesterday charged with with failing to stop to ascertain injury.

Police were waiting for the results of toxicology tests to determine whether alcohol was a factor in the crash.

Meanwhile, a 34-year-old man was fighting for his life in Waikato Hospital last night after his vehicle collided with a truck near Hastings on Friday afternoon.