Maureen Sales and daughter Cherie Dixon survey the damage to the garage after teenagers crashed through their fence last night fleeing from the police. Photo / Christine Cornege.
A teenager alleged to have crashed a stolen car was caught by police getting a lift home from his mother.
The 16-year-old crashed the car into a garage, sending concrete blocks from the building flying around the front yard.
Cherie Dixon was asleep when she was woken by the crash
at the Hamilton property where she cares for her 80-year-old mother.
"I heard this loud bang and I just lay in bed for a while trying to come to my senses and not long after there was a policeman banging on my door," said Ms Dixon.
"I walked out and there was this young girl sitting in the police car, but the boy driving had run off."
Waikato road policing manager Leo Tooman said the teenager tried to avoid police, reaching speeds of up to 100km/h.
Mr Tooman said it was fortunate no one was injured when he eventually lost control of the car and crashed into Ms Dixon's garage.
The teenager was arrested about 2.30am after he was found in another car - being driven home by his mother.
Ms Dixon said she wanted the pair to come back to her house and apologise. She also wanted help cleaning up the mess they had left.
"Mum was upset and a bit wild that those kids were out late at night for a start. What kind of parents let their kids out that late?
"If they were my kids I'd have them back here to help clean this up."
Mr Tooman said that in half of the Waikato region's fatal crashes, drivers under the age of 24 were at fault.
He said excessive speed was a significant factor in several fatal and serious injury crashes in the district this year and it was a worry that police officers had had to abandon pursuit of a fleeing driver who had ignored a routine traffic stop.
"As the fleeing driver's speeds reached 140km/h in a 50km/h zone, the officer chose pull his car over rather than expose the public to further risk."
The boy and his passenger, a 17-year-old girl, appeared in Hamilton Youth Court yesterday over driving offences and theft of a motor vehicle. The boy also faced a charge of breaching bail.
