Rules followed in fatal chase - police

Christchurch police say they followed the rule book in a high speed chase which ended in the death of a 22-year-old man.

Troy Peter MacKay was killed on Sunday when his Subaru Impreza hit a tree as he was being chased by police.

They began to chase him about 12.20am after seeing his car being driven in a dangerous manner along Blenheim Rd in the city.

The car was seen weaving in and out of traffic before it turned on to the Christchurch South Motorway and then into Halswell Road, where it lost control and struck the tree.

Mr MacKay died while being taken to hospital. His two female passengers, aged 29 and 18, were injured.

One was discharged yesterday while the other was in a stable condition in Christchurch Hospital's intensive care unit, the Press reported.

Christchurch South area commander Inspector Malcolm Johnston said the pursuit lasted two minutes and 20 seconds, but police did not see the accident as they were too far away.

"They were about 800 metres behind this guy and we didn't gain on him an inch," he told the paper.

It was early in the investigation but from interviews the pursuit transcript, it appeared police pursuit policy had been fully complied with, he said.

Mr Johnston said police were caught in an invidious position.

"We've got a guy driving erratically at speed. If he went up the road and crashed and killed someone, and we hadn't done anything, we would be criticised and rightly so."

The two officers in the patrol car were devastated, Mr Johnston said.

Meanwhile, the Independent Police Conduct Authority will investigate Mr MacKay's death, reported to be the eighth death associated with a police chase in the past six months.

Mr Johnston said police had no idea why Mr MacKay was driving so dangerously down Blenheim Rd.

- NZPA







Christchurch police say they followed the rule book in a high speed chase which ended in the death of a 22-year-old man.

Troy Peter MacKay was killed on Sunday when his Subaru Impreza hit a tree as he was being chased by police.

They began to chase him about 12.20am after seeing his car being driven in a dangerous manner along Blenheim Rd in the city.

The car was seen weaving in and out of traffic before it turned on to the Christchurch South Motorway and then into Halswell Road, where it lost control and struck the tree.

Mr MacKay died while being taken to hospital. His two female passengers, aged 29 and 18, were injured.

One was discharged yesterday while the other was in a stable condition in Christchurch Hospital's intensive care unit, the Press reported.

Christchurch South area commander Inspector Malcolm Johnston said the pursuit lasted two minutes and 20 seconds, but police did not see the accident as they were too far away.

"They were about 800 metres behind this guy and we didn't gain on him an inch," he told the paper.

It was early in the investigation but from interviews the pursuit transcript, it appeared police pursuit policy had been fully complied with, he said.

Mr Johnston said police were caught in an invidious position.

"We've got a guy driving erratically at speed. If he went up the road and crashed and killed someone, and we hadn't done anything, we would be criticised and rightly so."

The two officers in the patrol car were devastated, Mr Johnston said.

Meanwhile, the Independent Police Conduct Authority will investigate Mr MacKay's death, reported to be the eighth death associated with a police chase in the past six months.

Mr Johnston said police had no idea why Mr MacKay was driving so dangerously down Blenheim Rd.

- NZPA