Simon Norris (14) did not survive the crash and his friend revealed the last heartbreaking moments of his life to the police.
The details can now be released after coroner Marcus Elliot released his findings on Simon’s death.
Simon died on March 6, 2021.
He was staying with his friend and the couple decided to take an overnight ride.
Simon had never driven a car before and it was raining.
The boys pushed the car out of the driveway – so as not to wake the friend’s mother – and left.
The boy told police that Simon suggested driving his brother’s car after his mother cooked dinner and went to bed.
“I was like, ‘No, I don’t really want to, because he’s going to hide me,'” he said.
“He’s like ‘don’t be a wimp’ and we ended up pushing him off the driveway and then onto the road.”
Simon was driving and the friend said “can we please just… this is far enough, let’s go back”.
But the teen continued.
“And then all I can remember, we turned a corner… lost control and just went straight,” he said.
“(I) remember going to fly.
“When the car crashed…his legs were like over me and he leaned back and said, ‘I’m dying, I’m dying’.
“I said ‘not dead’ and I said ‘I fucking love you’ and then I said ‘I’m going to get help’.
The friend picked up Simon’s phone and tried to call 111, but the phone didn’t work.
“I ended up walking all the way home to get help,” said the friend.
He said at the start of the trip that Simon’s driving “wasn’t that bad” and they weren’t going “that fast”.
“We were just driving down the road, just doing a normal cruise… He wasn’t like he was an idiot… just normal cruising.”
The teenager went and woke his mother.
She said he was “wet” and “crying inconsolably”.
She went to a neighbor for help.
The neighbor told police: “I immediately got into our car and drove in to find the crash.
“It was dark and foggy at this point and also rainy. It was difficult to find the site of the crash. When I did, I immediately got out and ran down.
“I saw that the car was totally damaged, the driver’s door was open and saw a body fully folded… He was half in and half out of the car… I pulled it out of the driver’s side.”
Emergency services arrived on the scene but were unable to save Simon.
An autopsy confirmed he died of lacerations to the jugular veins, lungs, liver and spleen as a result of trauma to his neck and trunk sustained in the crash.
No drugs or alcohol were found in his system.
The police investigated and determined that the car had gone off the road and went down a steep slope before rolling several times and landing about 16 meters further.
Simon would have been traveling at least 51 km/h at the time and there was no sign of braking.
Police said the seat belts “showed no sign of use during the crash”.
“Calculations have shown that Mr Norris was traveling too fast to stop,” Police Chief Stephen Lamont told the coroner.
“It is possible that the fog and reduced visibility through his windshield made Mr Norris unaware of where he was and that, realizing his vehicle was approaching the right-hand corner, he suddenly counter-steered to the left without braking.
“Mr. Norris was an inexperienced driver driving downhill on a dirt road while driving at or close to the vehicle’s critical speed limit for that bend.”
Police examined the car and said there were no mechanical defects, but three tires were overinflated.
“Given that excessive tire pressure can cause a vehicle to become unstable under certain conditions, it was thought to be a contributing factor,” Lamont said.
Coroner Marcus Elliot considered whether to make recommendations about the section of road where the crash occurred, including installing a wooden barrier and reflective chevrons.
However, he said the lack of those safety measures at the time of the crash could not be clearly linked to the factors that contributed to Simon’s death. Therefore, he had no authority to make the recommendations.
After the crash, Simon’s father Ch’e Norris spoke to The New Zealand Herald about his son.
“It’s just really hard. Simon was a great, happy boy. He was a great boy and we’re going to miss him,” he said.
“He really loved fishing, surfing, he had so many friends. He looked ahead and would join the Navy or the Air Force. He was loved so much.
“His brothers absolutely miss him. They are devastated.”
Norris said he had visited Simon’s mate in the hospital.
The youth suffered minor injuries.
“He and his mother said it was a total relief. They thought we would blame them for the crash, but we said no,” said Norris.
“We just gave them a big hug and said it’s okay because teenagers are teenagers these days.”
Norris said they don’t blame anyone, it was just a tragic accident.
He said that as far as they knew, Simon had never ridden.
“That’s one of the things I wanted to teach him, which was to drive when he was 16.
“Before that time, he always wanted to learn something and do things that you should be a parent for.”