"Investigation into Fleeing Driver Incident"

Police are investigating a fatal crash which occurred in Buckland Road, Mangere in the early hours of this morning (24 January 2016).

Police were called to Hill Road, Papatoetoe at about 3:30am after a resident had reported a person breaking into a vehicle.

Police arrived at the scene four minutes later as the alleged stolen vehicle drove off.

Police signalled for the vehicle to pull over but the driver failed to do so, and fled from Police.

A pursuit was initiated and lasted around four minutes around the streets of Papatoetoe and Mangere.

The pursuing officer lost sight of the stolen vehicle and came across it when it had crashed into an oncoming vehicle on Buckland Road.

The 16-year-old female passenger died at the scene and the 15-year-old female driver remains in Middlemore Hospital in a critical condition.

We do not believe seat belts were worn by either of the occupants.

This is a tragedy for the families involved and our thoughts are with them at this time.

These incidents are also devastating for our staff and it is the last thing our officers go to work for.

This once again demonstrates the tragic consequences which can happen if a driver chooses not to stop for Police.

The matter has been referred to the IPCA and we are also conducting our own investigation, both of which are standard procedure.

ENDS

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