default-output-block.skip-main
National | Crime

Police want better accountability towards teenage reckless driving

Three teenagers who led police on a dangerous pursuit in Auckland last night on a stolen vehicle have been arrested.

The chase was captured on video and posted on Facebook showing the occupants boasting about being outlaws. Now police are calling on parents to be accountable.

The view for 16-year-old passengers from inside a stolen vehicle from New Plymouth.

Footage of the pursuit was posted to Facebook just over an hour after it started. It shows the group boasting about the ordeal claiming they weren't caught by the police.

Inspector Nga-Wati Chaplow says, "I do want to reiterate the danger of this sort of behaviour and glorifying this behaviour by publishing it on social media. It's a real, real bad thing it encourages other people to do that."

But later that night, the unlicensed 16-year-old male driver was apprehended.

A pursuit was initiated after the vehicle failed to stop for police in Manurewa but shortly abandoned as the car drove on the wrong side of the motorway from Manurewa to Manukau.

The two female passengers were later arrested this morning. Police are now concerned at a rise in recent criminal activity by unsupervised young people.

"Why are these rangatahi out at that time, why are they stealing cars and why are they doing what they are doing, so we all actually have to take account of that behaviours," says Inspector Nga-Wati Chaplow.

The three teenagers stood before the Manukau Youth Court this morning.

The driver of the vehicle has been served a raft of charges that includes reckless driving.