New Zealand

Arrest after central Auckland police chase

14:15 pm on 31 January 2017

An attempted theft in central Auckland sparked a police chase and ended with road spikes, police say.

Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly

Officers were alerted to three men trying to steal a motorbike at a house on Remuera Road just before 11.30am, police said.

When officers arrived, three men sped off in a stolen vehicle.

Police said the chase was abandoned twice because of high speeds, and the police helicopter took over.

Road spikes stopped the driver on Merton Road. Police arrested the man.

It was the latest of several police pursuits this week.

Yesterday, a pedestrian was hit by a fleeing driver in central Wellington. Thieves stole the car, a silver Mazda Familia, from a Lyall Bay shop at 1.40pm.

The Mazda hit a woman at the intersection of Everton Terrace and The Terrace at 1.55pm, before the thieves abandoned the car in a Clifton Terrace carpark. They ran off and were still at large.

On Saturday, driver Eden Hoey, 32, died and his two female passengers were injured - one critically - after crashing while fleeing police in Manukau about 10.15pm. Five others in the car Mr Hoey hit were moderately injured.