In December 2024, Jeremy Capper survived a head-on collision near Taihape but suffered the loss of three friends and his own arm and leg. Video / Mike Scott
Jeremy Capper survived a crash caused by an allegedly methamphetamine-impaired driver, losing an arm and a leg.
The crash killed Capper’s three friends, and the driver faces charges in Palmerston North District Court.
“I feel sad I survived, and they didn’t,” the sole survivor says.
As Jeremy Capper rode his Harley-Davidson around a sweeping bend he felt the warmth of the morning sun on his back.
Capper was mindful of the speed limit, aware his three friends were following close behind on their own bikes.
Then, out of nowhere, he saw a black Toyota Hiluxute coming at him.
“It happened so quickly ... I collected the left side of his vehicle, and he collected mine. I thought, ‘what the f*** are you doing?’” Capper says.
Jeremy Capper was the sole survivor of a triple fatality near Taihape. He lost his foot, which ended up 100 metres away, then had to have his left arm and leg amputated. Photo / Mike Scott
The president of the Sulphur City Motorcycle Club bounced off the ute, skidded 100 metres and briefly blacked out.
“I remember everything, the noise, the sparks, sliding on gravel and seeing the car on its side. There was debris everywhere, I asked a witness to the accident, ‘Am I bleeding? Am I missing anything?’ He said, ‘Your foot’. It was 100 metres away, I thought ‘that’s a bummer'. I slid on my belly and crushed my arm, my hand was mangled, and I smashed my elbow. My last words were, ‘please don’t let me bleed out’.”
Lesley Brooks, 46, was one of three people killed in a head-on collision near Taihape. Photo / Supplied
Capper and three of his mates, Lesley Brooks, 46, Luke Shaw and Jacob “Pudding” Coady, both 24, had all attended a bike rally in Mangaweka for the Manawatū chapter of the Road Pirates the previous night.
They had just finished breakfast and were heading along State Highway 1 in Utiku near Taihape on December 7 around 8am when the unthinkable happened. Capper was the sole survivor of the four friends.
Luke Shaw and Jacob Coady, both 24, were killed in a triple fatality near Taihape on December 7, 2024. Photo / Supplied
Critically injured, Capper was flown to Wellington Hospital and then on to Hamilton, where he was in an induced coma for nearly six weeks. He says he is lucky to be alive but devastated he lost an arm, a leg and his three friends.
“That tore me up.”
Capper says police told him the ute driver had taken methamphetamine before the crash.
“I am p***ed off my life has changed. The driver is an oxygen thief. I hope he will be punished.”
Jeremy Capper was in an induced coma for six weeks. He was nearly killed by a driver who is alleged to have been under the influence of methamphetamine. Photo / Mike Scott
Last week the driver, 51, appeared in Palmerston North District Court. The man, who has interim name suppression, is accused of being under the influence of methamphetamine and causing a fatal crash killing three people and seriously injuring another.
He was also charged with driving under the influence of a drug “to such an extent as to be incapable” of operating a motor vehicle.
Capper says the driver was in critical condition but discharged himself from hospital a day after the accident.
“Everyone thought he was dead. I have nothing to say to him, he can get f***ed.”
Jeremy Capper with his wife Tania. He is grateful for all the support he has received from friends but especially his mother Lucia and Tania. They have been at his bedside for 84 days. Photo / Mike Scott
Capper, a fitter and welder, is thankful for the support he has received from friends and especially his mother Lucia and his wife Tania, who have taken turns to be with him for the past 84 days.
Lucia Capper was planning drinks with her girlfriends for Christmas when Tania phoned to say three people had died but no one knew who had survived the crash.
“It’s the worst feeling in the world for a mother not knowing if your son was alive. For six weeks it was touch-and-go, he needed 40 bags of blood. He’d broken his pelvis, punctured his stomach and bowels and lost his limbs. I was determined not to lose Jeremy, my youngest son Lucas, 26, died in a forestry accident in 2009,” Lucia said.
Jeremy Capper lost an arm and a leg, and three friends when he was critically injured in a head-on collision near Taihape. Photo / Mike Scott
Tania Capper says when the surgeon said she needed to remove her husband’s arm and leg, she burst into tears.
“He is an extrovert, I’m an introvert. He loves socialising and we love riding our bikes, together. I am devastated about what’s happened, three people died. Right now, I am staying focused and preparing for Jeremy to come home.”
Tania and Jeremy were childhood friends but drifted apart when Tania was sent to boarding school.
Jeremy and Tania Capper were childhood sweethearts. They reconnected and got married four years ago. Photo / Mike Scott
Thirty years on, the couple bumped into each other at the Warehouse and reconnected. Tania says marrying her childhood sweetheart at the Sulphur City Motorcycle club four years ago was one of the best days of her life.
Capper says he is grateful he survived and acknowledges it’s a long road to recovery.
Jeremy Capper says he feels sad he survived and led his three friends into disaster. Photo / Mike Scott
And it’s the simple things he says he will miss. From his hospital window, he sees someone walking their dog.
“My life has completely changed, and it p***es me off that I can’t do simple s*** like walking a dog anymore or opening a bag of chips. At this age I need to learn how to do basic things again, but it is what it is.”
Next month, the couple are hoping to reunite with the friends' families for a memorial service near the crash site.
“I feel sad I survived, and they didn’t. I feel responsible for leading them into a disaster but it was out of our control and shouldn’t have happened.“
Carolyne Meng-Yee is an Auckland-based investigative journalist who won Best Documentary at the Voyager Media Awards in 2022. She worked for the Herald on Sunday from 2007-2011 and rejoined the Herald in 2016 after working as an award-winning current affairs producer at TVNZ’s 60 Minutes, 20/20 and Sunday.
