Dramatic footage has emerged of police pursuing a stolen car in New Plymouth, minutes before it smashed into a pole, killing the driver.
The chase started after the unregistered BMW Hatchback drove past a police car at high speed on Junction St, just after 12:30am on Monday.
"The pursuit carried on for a few minutes until the BMW stopped suddenly and appeared to reverse toward the police vehicle colliding with it," superintendent Sue Schwalger says.
"This disabled the police vehicle, and the pursuit was called off."
Several minutes later the vehicle was found by another police officer, crashed into a power pole on Tarahua Rd. The power lines had been brought down, and when it was safe to approach, police found the driver was dead. Police describe the road conditions as "wet and greasy".
The video, posted to Facebook by Clay Drummond Photography, shows the BMW visibly speeding down the road with a patrol car, with lights and sirens on, following close behind.
"The last thing any police officer wants to have happen when they are on shift is for any incident to end in a fatality," superintendent Schwalger says.
"However, it is a sad fact that sometimes they do.
"We have identified that the licence plates attached to the BMW had been stolen from a vehicle in Napier yesterday."
A police serious crash investigation and an internal police investigation are underway. The Police Conduct Authority has also been notified.
Newshub.
