Graham Bloxham outside the Wellington District Court in August, for an appearance relating to his driving charge. Photo / Ethan Manera
The controversial owner of a Wellington Facebook page and former mayoral hopeful has won his fight against police after being charged with a driving offence.
Graham Bloxham, who announced in January that he was running for Wellington mayor before later quitting the race, was arrested in early May and charged with failing to stop for police.
The 57-year-old appeared in the Wellington District Court in August for a defended hearing before two Justices of the Peace, Lisa Beighton and Ann Clark.
He pleaded not guilty to a charge of failing to stop after he was chased by police for allegedly using his phone while driving.
The pursuit ended in Bloxham being handcuffed and his distinctive car impounded.
Bloxham, who was running for the mayoralty at the time, was driving south on the motorway. He was heading towards a police incident at the Terrace Tunnel to get content for his media company, the Wellington Live Facebook page.
He approached a roadblock set up by police near the tunnel.
Constable Jake Gibbs, a witness in the hearing, was packing up the cordon when he said Bloxham’s branded car approached.
Bloxham appeared to be using his phone while driving, so Gibbs said he put on his lights and sirens and began following.
Bloxham admitted using his phone to take a photo while driving.
Police alleged he was signalled to stop, but he continued to The Terrace.
Further up The Terrace, Bloxham pulled into a driveway and did a U-turn. Gibbs told him to stop, but Bloxham continued driving before pulling into another driveway. He continued to hold and operate his phone throughout the pursuit, police alleged.
Gibbs said there were “plenty” of available places where Bloxham could have pulled over, but did not.
Bloxham disputed this, saying he did not realise the police car behind him was trying to pull him over. Instead, he thought they were heading to the same incident he was.
“As soon as I realised he was for me, I did a U-turn and went into the driveway,” he told the court.
He rejected the idea that there were any spaces to pull over, saying, “It was chocka.”
Gibbs said many other cars were pulling over and making way for police.
Gibbs said that, once Bloxham got out of his car, he walked towards him before walking away again. Gibbs asked for his driver’s licence, which Bloxham refused, allegedly continuing to walk away while saying he had somewhere he needed to be.
“He wasn’t happy about that, got a little bit more grumpy,” Gibbs said.
Bloxham was then accused of resisting arrest during an attempt to handcuff him.
Officers impounded his car and gave him and his dog a ride home.
Lawyer Kevin Smith argued that Bloxham tried to pull over at a practicable location, as required by law.
When being questioned by the prosecution about Gibbs’ account, Bloxham became agitated in court.
“Is this guy a pathological liar or what?” he asked during questioning. He was then asked to leave the court to speak with his lawyer.
After returning, he admitted he could have stopped at the first driveway, but continued driving to the second one.
In his closing statement, Smith said Bloxham acted as any reasonable person would in continuing to drive to find a safe place to pull over.
In a decision released today, the JPs said police failed to produce enough evidence to prove that Bloxham failed to stop as soon as practicable, and the case had been thrown out.
“It is our view that, while Mr Bloxham’s evidence at times was inconsistent, he did not have to prove anything,” Clark and Beighton wrote.
When the Herald contacted Bloxham for comment about his win, he advised that he was driving as he answered the phone, and hadn’t seen the decision yet.
“That really is nice to know.
“Good on the Wellington police. They have a hard job, and I’m really, really, really dramatically excited that it worked out positively for everyone.
“I’ve learned my lesson about touching the phone, and good luck to [mayor-elect] Andrew Little.”
He said it was “frustrating to have to go to court five times” on the charge, with hearings adjourned multiple times, and he encouraged others to challenge police charges if they believed they were the victims of injustice.
His arrest first came to public attention after he posted on a Wainuiomata community Facebook page detailing the incident.
“Yesterday I got pulled over, arrested for failing to stop after he said I was driving dangerously, thrown in the back of a Skoda and my car was impounded fir [sic] 6 months,” the post, from Bloxham’s personal Facebook account, read.
“The copper cuffed me so hard my wrists nearly bled, and I can hardly feel my thumbs nearly 24 hrs later.
“WTF is going on with WLG police. Has anyone had anything like this.”
The post included a photo of a marked wrist, which appeared to be Bloxham’s.
Police have been contacted for comment.
Ethan Manera is a Wellington-based journalist covering Wellington issues, local politics and business in the capital. He can be emailed at ethan.manera@nzme.co.nz.