Update: Witnesses stunned as cars smashed

RAMMED: One of the damaged cars on Whakaue St. PHOTOS/BEN FRASER

Witnesses saw a motorist ram into several parked cars on a Rotorua city street before "boosting down the street on a punctured tyre with his front bumper hanging off".

A number of witnesses saw the man leaving a nearby cafe before the incident yesterday afternoon.

He then got into his car, parked on Whakaue St, and reversed "about five times, each time crashing into the parked cars around him", witness John Pauling said.

RAMMED: One of the damaged cars on Whakaue St. PHOTOS/BEN FRASER

"I saw him floor it, crashing so violently into one of the parked cars it went up on the kerb.

"This mum's kids had just crossed the road when he came hooning past so she was screaming in terror clutching her kids.

"I ran over and tried to open his front door but he had locked himself in. In a matter of seconds he was boosting down the street on a punctured tyre with his front bumper hanging off."

Anne Scott said she was sitting on her balcony when she heard an "almighty crash".

"I rushed over just as the man took off down the street at what looked like 80km [per hour].

"I heard all these people screaming and that's when I saw all the damaged cars.

"In the 12 years I have been here I've never seen anything like that before."

Senior Sergeant Geoff Barnett said police were called to the scene not long after the incident occurred.

"A member of the public followed the man when he took off and called the incident into us.

"The man parked his damaged vehicle near the Polynesian Spa and police found him around the corner near Te Ngae St."

He said a man had been taken back to the station for further inquiries.