Teen dies after fleeing police patrol

Emergency services help the survivors after the crash in Hobsonville Road, West Auckland, early yesterday. Photo / Dean Purcell

The father of a teenager killed after fleeing police in a stolen car visited the scene yesterday and was consoled by one of the people first at the site.

The 18-year-old Iranian national died instantly when the Subaru he was driving left Hobsonville Rd, hit a tree and lamppost, flipped and slammed into a fence.

Four passengers in the car, three girls and another youth all aged under 20, were injured.

Police said that minutes before the crash, officers saw the car being driven erratically. When the driver ran a red light, they began a pursuit that lasted about three minutes.

They then lost sight of the Subaru, but another police car came across the wreckage less than a minute later.

Ross Ridler lives at the property where the car landed.

"The father came to the scene ... It was quite tragic," he said.

"We spoke to the father, we tried to console him. He was asking questions, wanting answers. He spent a lot of time here."

Mr Ridler was in bed when the crash happened. He had been at Eden Park watching Ireland beat Australia and got home about 11.30pm.

"We hadn't been in bed that long. It's not what you expect ... It sounded like a loud clap of thunder that was right above you," he told the Herald.

"It's a sound that you don't really want to hear ... Right on 1am we heard a loud bang and my wife said, 'That's right outside'. I jumped out of bed and stuck my head out the door and saw the vehicle on its roof, straddling my driveway."

Mr Ridler ran outside to the car, calling 111 as he went.

"I could see and hear a young girl in the back. She was saying, 'Help, help, get me out of here'.

"I was trying to comfort her as best I could, telling her help was on the way."

Firefighters arrived minutes later and had to rip down parts of Mr Ridler's fence to get to the other passengers in the car.

Mr Ridler could not get out of his blocked driveway.

The car hit a large tree and a lamp-post about 30m away from Mr Ridler's house. The force of the impact was so great it tore the tree out of the ground by its roots and sent it flying over Mr Ridler's fence. The tree soared over his wife's car, about 2m from the side of the house.

"Thirty seconds later, the police turned up. I tried to open the car door. I couldn't get to the other side, I was blocked in.

"The car was hard up against the fence and the doors were squashed in."

Another resident said the sound of the crash was horrific.

"I'm a sound sleeper but it woke me up. There was a big bash ... It sounded like an earthquake starting. I could tell it was a serious crash."

The crash was heard across the suburbs of Massey and Royal Heights. Some residents said the impact shook their homes.

Mr Ridler said police removed the wreckage about 3.30am, but serious crash unit investigators were at the scene until 5am taking photos and recording measurements.

The Independent Police Conduct Authority is investigating.

According to the Police Association, officers engaged in between 2000 and 2500 vehicle pursuits each year.

The 18-year-old was the second this year to die in a crash where the driver was fleeing police.

Last year, 16 people died as a result of motorists fleeing the police.