A man is due to appear in court today after allegedly fleeing police across central Auckland yesterday afternoon — causing damage to three patrol cars in the process.
The 31-year-old Northland man will appear in the Auckland District Court on charges of aggravated assault, reckless driving, failing to stop and unlawfully taking a motor vehicle, acting Inspector Scott Jones said.
Yesterday, a blue Subaru with mismatched plates – which police say has since been confirmed as having been stolen – was spotted travelling city-bound on the Northwestern Motorway.
The driver was approached by police when he allegedly fled at speed from Great North Rd towards the suburb of Pt Chevalier.
The car went through numerous suburbs in central Auckland and the CBD, before heading towards Three Kings.
The vehicle was spiked on “multiple occasions” before pulling into the car park at Dress Smart shopping centre in Onehunga just after 3.30pm.
“Our staff blocked the vehicle in before taking the male driver into custody.”
Three police vehicles suffered damage in the process of stopping the vehicle.
Following the incident, police established the man was also sought in relation to other active court matters, including aggravated robbery.
“It’s fortunate that neither the public nor police staff suffered any injuries as a result of the man’s alleged actions yesterday afternoon,” Jones said.
A witness told 1News she was parked on Onehunga Mall Rd with her daughter when the vehicle “came flying past” with at least eight police cars following.
Two police cars moved to block the vehicle, she said.
“Was coming towards us on the wrong side of the wrong side of the road, just missed my car, hit the police car and took off up Onehunga Mall Rd.”