City chase drama as driver flees police

The peace was shattered in Wanganui early yesterday by the screaming sirens of four police cars in pursuit of a stolen car.
The chase went almost from one end of the city to the other before police lost contact with the grey Mitsubishi in Castlecliff.
One witness compared the 6.30am spectacle to a full-on American-style television cops and robbers chase "but without the guns blazing".
The police pursuit of the reported stolen car began after the driver left a Victoria Ave petrol station without paying for a full tank of petrol.
Wanganui police Sergeant Tim Walker said the vehicle was located near the Carlton Ave-London St roundabout but failed to stop for police. According to a witness, the driver stepped on the gas and had "gone for it".
The chase wound up London St, down Kaikokopu Rd, Somme Parade, Taupo Quay, and out along Heads Rd, where officers lost sight of the car.
A witness on Somme Parade said the chase was incredible to see and bizarre at that hour of the morning.
She said she heard sirens then saw two police cars racing towards town and another coming the other way.
As the third police car did a U-turn, a grey car seemed to appear out of nowhere, it raced around the turning police car, narrowly avoiding a crash.
A second witness, who was walking along the river bank beside Taupo Quay, said when she heard all the sirens she stopped just in time to see a small grey car speeding around the corner, moments before she saw the police cars in pursuit.
"I couldn't believe I was seeing anything like that at 6.30am on what was a peaceful morning."
Police cordoned off an area in Castlecliff where they had lost sight of the car and later found it and the driver parked in Poaka Place.
The driver gave himself up "peacefully" without incident, police said.
It is understood the vehicle was one stolen near Wairoa, from an elderly couple who had stopped to offer help to a man who had crashed his car.
Wairoa police said they were disgusted by the actions of the driver.
The couple, both aged 63, had stopped to help the driver on Sunday afternoon on State Highway 2 at Waihua Hill, 15km south of Wairoa.
His car had left the road and gone over a bank, down through scrub and crashed into a tree.
Senior Sergeant Tony Bates of Wairoa police said the couple gave the driver shoes to walk up the scrub-covered bank and then offered him their cellphone to call for help.
While the couple were assisting the man, he got into the driver's seat of their car and started it.
The elderly male tried to stop the man driving off but he was pushed aside. The man drove off in their Mitsubishi Lancer, which contained personal items.
The Mitsubishi was involved in a petrol theft and a theft from a dairy in Napier later that day.
A 24-year-old Gisborne man was due to appear in the Wanganui District Court yesterday afternoon but he apparently became ill and had to be taken to Wanganui Hospital.
He has been charged with two counts of car theft, two counts of theft, and one each of careless driving, making demands with menace, failing to stop, reckless driving and breaching bail. He is in custody and expected in the Wanganui District Court today.