Crimeline: Frankton Road becomes night-time speedway
Just two nights after a motorcyclist was clocked at 142kmh on Frankton Road, another driver has allegedly sped away from the cops.
Police say they spotted the speeding car just after 1am yesterday, Wednesday 16, April, and attempted to pull it over.
Area road policing manager Senior Sergeant Steve Watt says the driver completed “an erratic U-turn and sped off at high speeds crossing the centre line”.
However, he was caught a short time later - fuelling the car up at a local petrol station.
The 34-year-old Cromwell man, who was on an alcohol interlock licence, was arrested and charged with dangerous driving, failing to stop and refusing a request for blood, driving contrary to an alcohol interlock device and interfering with an alcohol interlock device.
His licence has been suspended for 28 days, while he's bailed to appear in Queenstown District Court on 23 April. The vehicle has been impounded
Less than 48 hours earlier on the same road the motorcyclist, carrying a passenger, also fled Police at high speed - clocking 142kkmh in the 70kmh zone. The biker ignored the patrol car lights and siren and failed to stop, near Yewlett Crescent, at around 4.20am.
Sergeant Tracy Haggart says due to the driver’s excessive speed Police did not pursue and enquiries are continuing to locate the driver.
Police putting out a public appeal for anyone with CCTV or dashcam footage of the bike to come forward.
The last sighting of the bike was at about 4.25am as it travelled past the Z petrol station on Frankton Road, heading towards the Queenstown CBD.
Police say they’re taking “a zero-tolerance approach” to this kind of behaviour” and every effort will be made to ensure these dangerous road users are held accountable.
- Contact Police on 105, either over the phone or online, referencing file number 250414/1674.
Five times the limit
A 32-year-old Queenstown man clocked an astonishing breath alcohol level of 1289mcgs – over five times the legal limit, at Shotover Country just before 8.30pm on Saturday, 12 April.
Haggart says the man was found in the vehicle with the keys in the ignition after Police received a complaint in McBride Street. The driver will appear in the Queenstown District Court on 9 May.
He was among at least four drink drivers caught on Queenstown roads last week, including a 54-year-old on a zero-alcohol licence, who blew 400mcg after being stopped on Arthurs Point Road just before 8am on Friday, 11 April. Cops say they received a complaint about him crossing the centre line. He'll appear in court on 23 April, charged with drink driving as a zero-alcohol licensee and driving contrary to the terms of his zero-alcohol licence, third or subsequent.
Haggart urges people planning on having a few alcoholic drinks to ensure they have a plan to get home safely afterwards.
“Organise a sober driver, someone to come and collect you, or plan for a Taxi or Uber fare to get home. Don’t drink and drive and put yourselves and other motorists at risk,” she says.
Crashes
A 39-year-old American woman escaped with only a small cut to her hand after losing control and rolling her vehicle onto its roof on the Glenorchy Road at 7.40pm on Friday, 11 April. Haggart says the wheels went into gravel on the road’s edge.
Meanwhile, an Auckland woman also crashed into a bank near the Crown Range summit just before 11am on Sunday, 13 April. She lost control a 35km corner colliding with the bank but was uninjured.
Downtown assaults
Police are looking for a bulky Māori man with black hair, aged in his late 20s, after he tired to head butt and punch a staff member at a Church Street backpackers.
The staff member had intervened after the man had followed other men into the backpackers, swearing at them, at 1.40am on Saturday, 12 April. He was then seen trying to fight other members of the public outside Night ‘n Day. Police attended but he wasn't located. He was wearing a flannel shirt and cap.
And a 23-year-old Queenstown man faces two charges of assault after a group of males became aggressive and argumentative at being refused entry into a bar due to intoxication. His court date is 19 May.
Possession of knife
A 26-year-old Kingston man has been charged with possessing a knife in a public place after Police found a cannabis utensil and hunting knife in his vehicle when he was stopped on Frankton Road just before 10pm on Friday, 11 April. His court date is 9 May.
