Police still appear to be looking for the man who was involved in an accident on Pigeon Flat Road near Dunedin’s Northern Motorway with the car he was driving, which was then overturned.
Dunedin resident Matt Anderson said he was waiting in traffic on Cumberland St (State Highway 1) when a green back ended the van he was in.
The force of the impact pushed the van into the SUV in front of it and damaged the van’s radiator.
It looked like the man was in a hurry to get away, Anderson said.
Another witness said the man hit another vehicle in the next section of Cumberland St, near the New World supermarket.
He also later saw him driving north on the northern highway where he nearly collided with two trucks, the witness said.
A Otago Daily Times A reporter driving to Dunedin said he saw a green ute heading north on the northern highway, with at least one of its wheels dropping rubber.
According to the witness, several police cars followed with lights, with a delay of about five minutes.
A police spokesperson said officers were responding to reports of dangerous driving in Pigeon Flat Rd and a vehicle had crashed into a bank around 12:50 p.m.
It turned out to be the same vehicle that had driven away from Cumberland St.
A Otago Daily Times photographer at the intersection of Pigeon Flat Rd and SH1 said there were four police cars, two of which had driven through Pigeon Flat Rd.
Some officers were armed and road spikes were deployed. Remains of shredded tires could be seen on the highway, he said.
The ute, a green Suzuki Escudo, had been abandoned across the Pigeon Flat Road with its wheels in a ditch.
There was a black dog in the front seat and a police car nearby, but officers did not appear to have taken anyone into custody, he said.
The photographer said it looked like a cop next to a police car on SH1 was scanning the neighboring bush for the perpetrator.