Man, 20, charged by police after Auckland kidnapping ended in car crash
A man has been charged by police after a kidnapping ended in a car crash in the Auckland suburb of New Windsor on Sunday night.
The 20-year-old man allegedly took the victim from a Methuen Rd address to a nearby cash machine and forced them to withdraw money before being chased by police.
Police said one of their helicopters spotted the car in Stoddard Rd and followed it.
“The offender refused to stop his vehicle after being sighted by police and crashed a short time later, colliding with a member of the public’s vehicle at the intersection of Richardson and Maioro roads,” Detective Senior Sergeant Steve Anderson said.
The man allegedly tried to run but was caught by police, leaving the kidnapped victim in the car with minor injuries.
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Resident Mark Lewis said he heard “three loud bangs” just before 11.30pm.
“We get so many smashes around here that you become numb to them, but this made me step back and say, shit what was that?” he said.
Lewis said he grabbed a first aid kit and ran up the road, where he saw one car with the front “completely blown off” and a second had gone through a fence.
“I’ve never seen police respond so quickly. There must have been five or six police cars here within minutes,” Lewis said.
The family whose fence was crashed into confirmed they were unharmed by the incident, but added they are “just really pissed off about the whole thing”.
The man charged will appear in the Auckland District Court on Monday on charges of kidnapping, unlawfully taking a vehicle, aggravated robbery, threatening to kill and dangerous driving.
“As the seriousness of these charges indicate, this was an extremely distressing incident for all those involved.
“We are still in the early stages of our investigation and want to reassure the community we are not looking for anyone else in relation to last night’s events,” Anderson said.
Anyone who has any information which could help police can contact 105 and quote file number 220926/7713 or information can also be passed on anonymously via Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.