A young Taranaki man overtook vehicles at 130km/h, rammed a police car, drove straight at another police car, evaded road spikes and was almost forced off the road by a bus during a 30 minute police chase - all with his two young children in the car.
Antony
Te Henui, 22, of Raetihi, pleaded guilty to two charges of reckless driving, dangerous driving, driving while disqualified, failing to stop after an accident, failing to stop for police and aggravated assault on police when he appeared in New Plymouth District Court yesterday, the Taranaki Daily News reported.
Te Henui led police on the high-speed chase, between Midhirst and New Plymouth, after they tried to pull him over for speeding while he was disqualified from driving on September 14.
He had his four-year-old son and two-year-old daughter in the car at the time.
Judge Allan Roberts said after being cornered by police in a dead-end street in Inglewood Te Henui reversed straight into a police car, seriously damaging it.
He then sped through the town's streets and drove straight at another police car, forcing it to swerve to avoid a crash.
Te Henui avoided road spikes near Egmont Village, cutting in front of another car and causing it to crash into him.
A bus then tried to force him off the road - Te Henui's mother happened to be a passenger on the bus.
Police finally stopped Te Henui south of New Plymouth.
It was Te Henui's third conviction for driving while disqualified within 12 months.
He was sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment and had $7597 in fines remitted. He was also disqualified from driving for two years from April 2009, when his current disqualification ends.
- NZPA
