Annemarie Gallagher and her three children were nearly wiped out after Patience Pari drove erratically and aggressively down Devon St. Photo / Kelly Makiha
Annemarie Gallagher and her three children were nearly wiped out after Patience Pari drove erratically and aggressively down Devon St. Photo / Kelly Makiha
A Rotorua mother believes an out-of-control driver could have killed her and her three children after slamming into their car as they drove home from school.
The driver, Patience Tina Maree Pari, went on to ram a different vehicle twice before yelling abuse at people, fleeing police and punching apolice sergeant in the head, according to court documents.
Annemarie Gallagher had just picked up her children from school and was driving home when she saw a vehicle coming the other way swerve into her lane at speed.
Gallagher, a registered nurse, told the Rotorua Daily Post Weekend she quickly wrenched the car onto the kerb - an action she believes may have saved her and her children's lives.
The speeding car missed hitting the Gallaghers' vehicle head-on, instead striking the rear of their car.
In her opinion: "She could have wiped us all out."
The back of Annemarie Gallagher's car after Patience Pari's vehicle struck it. Photo / Supplied
Pari, 29, has appeared in the Rotorua District Court and pleaded guilty to charges relating to the events on the afternoon of July 25.
She admitted two counts of dangerous driving causing injury as well as refusing a police request to give blood, resisting police and aggravated assault.
A police summary of facts, released to the Rotorua Daily Post Weekend, said an open beer bottle was found in Pari's car, and the vehicle smelled of alcohol.
Pari's collision course began on Fenton St, where she was seen driving up onto a median berm.
The area was busy with traffic and pedestrians as several nearby schools had not long finished for the day.
The witness called police and followed as Pari turned right onto Devon St and crossed to the wrong side of the road, driving erratically at speed, the summary said.
Gallagher and her children were coming the other way.
Pari's vehicle swiped the right rear side of their car before accelerating away "aggressively".
Patience Pari crashed into a second vehicle on Devon St. Photo / Supplied
Pari returned to her lane as she approached the Ranolf St and Devon St roundabout and rammed straight into the back of a vehicle with three men inside.
Pari accelerated, pushing the vehicle forward before backing up and striking it again, the summary said. Two of the men were later taken to hospital and treated for whiplash.
She pulled left and tried to undertake the car, colliding with its front left corner before continuing on Devon St.
She eventually stopped, got out of her car and started yelling abuse at people.
Some who stopped to help escorted her off the road.
The summary said when police arrived, Pari was uncooperative and appeared "heightened and agitated". She ran off on Baton St and a police officer gave chase but lost sight of her on Wylie St.
She was found crouching behind a green power box and told she was under arrest.
As a sergeant leaned down with her left hand to help Pari to her feet, Pari stood up and aggressively punched the officer twice to the left side of her temple in an attempt to avoid being arrested, the summary said.
The sergeant stumbled backward and her hat "propelled" from her head. After a minor scuffle Pari was handcuffed and taken to the police station, continuing to act violently. She refused to let a blood sample be taken.
The struck sergeant was assessed by a doctor at the station and taken home for observation for a suspected concussion.
The Rotorua Daily Post Weekend interviewed Gallagher following Pari's guilty pleas.
Gallagher described it as a frightening experience.
She had her sons, aged 13 and 16, in the backseat, and her daughter, aged 12, in the front. Their family dogs were also in the boot.
Annemarie Gallagher and her three children were nearly wiped out after Patience Pari drove erratically and aggressively down Devon St. Photo / Kelly Makiha
Gallagher said the crash brought back horrible memories of a friend's son who was killed sitting in a parked car in a driveway after an out-of-control drink driver crashed into several cars.
"I was really traumatised in the days afterwards. We could have been killed too."
She will now not let her 12-year-old sit in the front seat.
