Witnesses tell inquest of teen's final moments

The crash scene where 16-year-old Rawiri Wilson was struck by a police car on State Highway 1, 1.3 km from Ohaeawai in the Far North. Photo / Greg Bowker

A witness has described how a teenager died in his arms after he was hit by a police car at night.

The evidence came during Coroner Garry Evans' inquest in Whangarei yesterday into the death of Rawiri Wilson, 16.

Rawiri was hit by a police patrol car on State Highway 1 at Ohaeawai on July 25, 2009, while walking on the road with cousin Gideon Porter, who was knocked into a drain and suffered a fractured hip.

Francis Backhouse-Smith, of Ohaeawai, told the court he lay on the road with Rawiri to comfort him but he died in his arms. Mr Backhouse-Smith had been walking home along the highway from a party in nearby Old Bay Rd.

Just as he spotted a car coming down Ludbrook's Hill, he heard voices but could not see anyone. He estimated the car was travelling close to the 100km/h limit. Then he heard a "thump."

"The vehicle was coming towards me and continued in a straight line. The lights were on me all the time and they didn't veer away."

It stopped about 30m away and flashing red and blue lights came on, he said.

"The lights from the police car lit up the road and I could see the lad lying at the front of the police vehicle near to the edge of the road."

Mr Backhouse-Smith ran down the road, checked the boy and put him in the recovery position. He said he was focused on helping Rawiri but he died in his arms.

He said: "The police patrol vehicle appeared to have gone in a straight line with no deviation."

Gideon, then 16, said they were walking on State Highway 1 back to an uncle's 60th birthday party they had been at earlier that night.

"We were just cruising. We weren't running on the road, or anything like that. We were laughing and yelling a bit," he said. "I remember turning to my right to look at the car. It was coming around the corner and I think they dipped their lights. As the car got closer, I turned again to my right. At the same time, the car hit me. I don't remember much after that."

Gideon said he was blinded by the car lights.

"I remember it hitting me and me going to the ground. I think I was in the ditch by a fence. I thought I was the only one hit.

"I remember being in heaps of pain and being crouched up trying to breathe. I didn't know it was a police car that hit us."

He said they had been walking on the road but as cars passed, they moved to the side of the road.

Gideon said when they were struck, Rawiri was behind him but he was unable to say exactly where. He said he had smoked some cannabis with Rawiri about seven hours earlier. At the party, they had drunk some beers.

Earlier in the inquest, witnesses told the court they had to swerve their vehicle across the road to avoid a darkly-clothed figure walking in the middle only minutes before he was hit and killed by a police car driven by Constable Jamie Anderson.