The police car involved in this morning's smash at Horotiu suffered moderate damage to its rear wheel. Photo / Ursula Pollock
The police car involved in this morning's smash at Horotiu suffered moderate damage to its rear wheel. Photo / Ursula Pollock
A police car sped down the middle of State Highway 1 overtaking traffic with its flashing lights on before cutting in front of a truck and crashing, a witness says.
Ursula Pollock said she and her husband were travelling to work in Hamilton behind a Te Kauwhata Transport truck atHorotiu this morning when a patrol car suddenly appeared and sped past.
"The cop was speeding. The cop sped past our car and turned in front of the truck, that was going about 80km/h past the Fonterra factory, and the cop pulled into that old Pukete Rd turn-off. It used to be an entry-exit back in the day," said Pollock.
The Te Kauwhata Transport truck involved in this morning's crash with a patrol car suffered damage to its right, front side. Photo / Ursula Pollock
"He was lucky that the back of the car got clipped and not the front [because] that cop that was sitting in the passenger seat, he would have taken the full impact."
Pollock said she and her husband pulled over to check on the occupants. The truck driver was "freaked", but she told him to take photos and ring his boss.
She also checked on the police officers. The passenger looked dazed, she said, while the driver appeared to be fine.
"I opened the [passenger] door up and said 'are you all right?' and he was just looking at me."
The patrol car and truck in situ after the collision. Photo / Ursula Pollock
She was shocked at the way the police car was being driven, labelling it "dangerous".
"We were right behind [the truck], I saw it. I saw the cop come speeding past me, he did not have his siren going. He had lights going. We didn't see him until he was right by the car.
"It looked like he was trying to get to that Pukete Rd and obviously he wasn't thinking and pulled right in front of that truck. Man, it was out of it. I can't stop thinking about it. It freaked the hell out of me. I've been talking about it all day."
The scene where a truck and police car collided near the Horotiu dairy factory on SH1 this morning. Photo / Belinda Feek
She was also surprised the patrol car's airbags weren't deployed on impact.
"I don't know how that didn't happen. It was a side impact."
When checking on the officers, she heard they were heading to an incident off Pukete Rd involving "two people running around with guns" she said.
The police car involved in this morning's smash at Horotiu suffered moderate damage to its rear wheel. Photo / Ursula Pollock
Sets of skid marks, about 20m long, are all that are left of the scene near the exit of Pukete Rd - just south of Fonterra's Horotiu dairy factory.
Waikato road policing manager Inspector Freda Grace said she couldn't comment about the circumstances of the crash as they were still being investigated, but she confirmed the patrol car was heading south and on its way to an incident off Pukete Rd.
Senior Sergeant Pete van de Wetering of Waikato police earlier confirmed the two officers in the car had been asked to provide back-up at an incident at nearby Meadow View Lane.
Van de Wetering said officers were called to investigate an incident at the property when there was a "confrontation" between the occupants and police.
"When the police officers arrived, there was a confrontation with a person at an address from which the police officers called for assistance and it was in response to that, unfortunately, that a collision has occurred with one of the attending units coming from nearby Te Rapa area."
