Waikato Expressway crash: Motorist killed after running into oncoming traffic had run from mental health centre, stolen vehicle - Coroner

Emergency services at the scene of the incident on the Waikato Expressway near Hampton Downs on June 14. Photo / Alanah Eriksen

A man killed in June after he ran into oncoming traffic on the Waikato Expressway moments after crashing an SUV he’d allegedly stolen at knifepoint – and then driven erratically and at speed – had been taken to a community mental health centre by family on the morning of his death, a Coroner’s order has revealed.

Coroner Donna Llewell suppressed the man’s name until a coroner issues their final findings in an order released yesterday that also included previously unreported details about the last morning of the 28-year-old’s life.

Today, she extended that suppression to include the reasons the man’s family had asked for his name not to be made public.

On the morning of his death, the man was taken to a community mental health centre in South Auckland by two members of his family, Llewell wrote in her order.

“They reported that for the prior two weeks there had been concerns about [the man’s] mental health, he had been reporting hearing voices, they needed to get help for him, hence presenting at the mental health centre.”

But the man began “very agitated” and wouldn’t take part in the mental health assessment, she wrote.

“[He] abruptly walked out of the centre and ran away.”

At approximately 11am the man was allegedly involved in an aggravated robbery in Manukau, Llewell wrote.

“He was believed to have approached someone with a knife and then stolen their vehicle.”

Sixty-six minutes later that vehicle was involved in a crash on the northbound lane of State Highway 1, near the Hampton Downs off-ramp of the Waikato Expressway, she wrote.

“The driver was later confirmed to have been [the man]. He collided with a light truck towing a flat deck trailer and hit the guardrail/barrier.

“He was then seen running away from the stolen vehicle, jumped the barrier separating the north and southbound lanes of the highway, ran into the southbound lane, and was struck by another vehicle. [He] was reported to have stood up again and tried to run and was then struck by a second vehicle towing a small trailer.”

Witnesses later told the Herald of desperate attempts by other motorists and first responders to save the man’s life, some on their knees in pouring rain in a futile attempt to give CPR.

The man died at the scene and police closed a section of the highway in both directions for more than five hours.

The man’s mother reported him missing to police just before 4pm, and family were told of his death just after 10pm, Llewell wrote.

“Given the timing of reporting him missing… it appears [his] mother and whānau had no idea of his whereabouts, the motor vehicle collision(s) or his death at that time.”

Other motorists and first responders tried to save the man, but he died at the scene of the incident on the Waikato Expressway near Hampton Downs. Photo / Alanah Eriksen

Motorists spoken to by the Herald told of terrifying moments as the man sped past them between the wire barrier and the left lane.

“Out of nowhere this car comes up the inside,” truckie Dylan Harris told the Herald at the time.

“I’m in a truck and trailer - it’s 23.5m long - and there’s no one in the right-hand lane, there’s actually no cars for ages. And he just comes flying up the left-hand side.

“I’m going 90km/h and he passed me like I was standing still… his speed was incredible. By the time I was gathering my thoughts he was already 100m up the road doing the same thing to another car and truck.”

He knew other truckies had also seen the man’s driving because he could hear them over the CB radio saying, “What the hell’s going on here?”, Harris said.

A woman travelling north told the Herald she was passed, also between the left lane and the wire barrier, by a black SUV being driven at speeds of “well over 120km/h”.

“He was just screaming past everybody. He’d created a third lane [on the two-lane expressway] and was overtaking people. All the stones were flying up on our cars.”

The vehicle then went out of her sight, but as she approached the overbridge just south of Hampton Downs, she saw the man had crashed, the woman said.

“I saw him run across to the other side… I didn’t see the impact, because I was driving… but I saw him face down on the road.”

Motorists and first responders battled pouring rain as they tried to save the man's life. Photo / Alanah Eriksen

The woman put a blanket over the man, who was wearing socks but no shoes, before another woman and man started CPR in the middle of the road while others tried to shelter them from the rain using umbrellas.

Later, another woman saw a first responder on his knees taking over CPR as the rain pelted down.

The rain was coming down hard and they were huddled under umbrellas, she said.

“He was in the middle of the motorway, lying there lifeless. There were six to eight police and a person doing CPR in a yellow coat - he was over the man trying to save him with people all around.

The aftermath was “terribly traumatic” to see.

“I phoned my husband in tears, and telling him I love him. Seeing something like that, you just think, ‘Be safe, people’. If you’re 10 or 15 minutes late, it doesn’t matter.

“Tonight I’m going to be cuddling my children extra hard, and thanking my blessings I got home. It’s such an understated blessing to get home safe.”

Cherie Howie is an Auckland-based reporter who joined the Herald in 2011. She has been a journalist for more than 20 years and specialises in general news and features.