Since 2020, Police has recorded at least 59 vehicle ramming incidents that have resulted in officers requiring admission to hospital. Roughly 15 offenders a month are deliberately ramming Police vehicles – up from 10 a month only six years ago.
More shocking is that some drivers are targeting officers outside their vehicles. In the first two months of 2024, of 33 “ramming of police” incidents, five deliberately targeted police staff outside of a car. The tragic loss this year of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming, the first policewoman to die in the line of duty, underscores the seriousness of the trend.
Police data for the past 16 years also shows that this perilous “new craze” is unlikely to slow down as more and more fleeing drivers take over the roads.
From a low of 2195 fleeing drivers in 2010, the figure raced skyward to more than 10,800 in 2023. A staggering 394% rise in drivers putting their lives, police lives and thousands of others at risk.
Police News spoke to two Auckland officers who feared for their lives during a ramming incident in February, and a Hamilton constable recounts one of the many times he has been the target of a fleeing driver.
More and more fleeing drivers are smashing into Police vehicles, hoping to set off the airbags, thereby disabling the patrol car so they can get away. A Hamilton police officer recounts one of the many “ramming police” incidents he has faced.
One Thursday, about 2300 hours, I wasn’t far from going 10/0. Then City Cameras called Comms saying there were three or four youths trying to break into a vehicle nearby.
My offsider and I heard another unit say they would attend. I called and told them I would block the youths in, then I dropped my offsider off to get a tyre deflation device (TDD) ready.
The youths were about to leave the scene so I approached slowly without lights or sirens so it wouldn’t scare them too early and so I could get “eyes on” and obtain the registration.
Once I had, I lit up the vehicle with lights and sirens and, as predicted, the driver reversed out at speed narrowly missing the front of my patrol car. I could see three or four people in the car.
I told Comms the vehicle was fleeing so the other unit could get a heads up that they were coming its way.
As I turned a corner, I could see the unit had its TDD deployed. The fleeing driver panicked, swerved to avoid the TDD and drove into a parked vehicle.
He then reversed as fast as he could straight back at me and my vehicle, going about 40kmh to 50kmh. I tried to engage reverse but realised there was no way I could avoid being rammed. I didn’t have time to think about my safety. It all happened so quickly. I just braced for impact and waited for the airbags to deploy.
At the very last moment, the offender turned, missing my vehicle by the thickness of the paint, and took off.
Long story short, the car was spiked multiple times and a lengthy pursuit ensued before three offenders were located. The young driver was someone with 41 non-active charges. The vehicle was also registered to him – not the smartest criminal.
Police rammings are becoming way too frequent and, with legislation the way it is, offenders know if they flee there’s a good chance police will stand down for safety reasons and then there’s a better chance of escaping.
The actions of these offenders frustrate me. They have no regard for anyone but themselves. I want a change to legislation. These offenders need to be held accountable for their actions. However, it seems we are too worried about them getting hurt.
What started out as a routine family harm call quickly escalated to the point that Senior Constable Anthony Henry and Constable Vineet Thakur felt their only option was to train their weapons on the offender, a first for both men. They recall that terrifying day.
February 13 was just like any other day for officers stationed at Auckland airport until a report came in that a man was assaulting a female in a shopping centre car park nearby.
Senior Constable Anthony “Antz” Henry and Constable Vineet Thaker responded, quickly identifying the couple driving past with the female in the driver’s seat. The officers did a U-turn and prepared for what they thought would be a standard 3T (traffic stop).
Antz: It unfolded in a matter of seconds… it was obvious whatever the man’s intentions were, they weren’t good… options were all just burning through my head in milliseconds.
Vineet: When we got behind the vehicle. I was keeping an eye on both of them. I saw him push the female once or twice. He was telling her what to do. They failed to give way and jumped a red light. That was when I put my lights on… they weaved in and out of the lanes… and then through red lights again.
Antz: The guy grabbed the steering wheel and yanked the car around in front of the traffic… then he suddenly veered across. I saw the guy go towards the driver’s side. The driver-side door opened and the female rolled out and hit the road. We pulled up probably three metres short of them. It was all happening instantaneously. She jumped up and sprinted behind a car and over to the side of the road. At the same time, he hit reverse and then took out the front right of our car. Then he whizzed past us, turned around in a circle and came back at us. We both jumped out and Vinny ran across the road. We got our firearms out just to try to protect ourselves and to prevent her from being harmed further. We were stuck in no man’s land with nowhere safe nearby to run to for cover.
Vineet: He just kept coming towards us, trying to get to her, and swerving the car towards us three or four times, trying to keep us at bay, as well as trying to get her back in the car.
Antz: Vinny was more in the open. I ended up sort of sheltering around the patrol car, following what the driver was doing… at times he was probably only a metre or two from us. We are generally armed at the airport… so we were quite fortunate in this case that we had them available to us. But it’s a real big judgment call.
[Neither officer thought actually firing on the driver was an option with so much traffic around as well as a growing number of onlookers.]
Antz: Pointing was probably the best thing we could do. Even then we were reluctant. It would have been the ultimate last resort to pull the trigger because of the sheer nature of where we were. It was just too risky to let rounds go. But I think having access to be able to point the firearm had a delaying effect.
"He was trying to run us over or ram our car and the charge is
only assault with a blunt weapon. In other countries, it’s an
attempt to murder." - Constable Vineet Thaker
Vineet: It was so scary. Thankfully when he saw I was pointing a firearm at him, I think he thought, ‘OK, I’m in the shit. I need to get out of here’. I believe that the extra tactical option [the firearm] gave me pretty much saved my life… I knew if he came directly towards me, I’d be gone.
Antz: More drivers are going to the next level, using the car that they’re driving as a potential weapon against staff, an opportunity to take out a cop, or to get police off their back... it’s pretty scary that that’s the nature of what they’re thinking, which leaves us quite vulnerable… It is a worrying trend.
Vineet: He was trying to run us over or ram our car and the charge is only assault with a blunt weapon. In other countries, it’s an attempt to murder. If somebody’s got a knife or a machete and they hit some person with a machete or a knife, it is considered attempted murder or grievous bodily harm. Driving a car towards someone, that’s counted as assault.
Following Antz and Vineet’s encounter, the 28-year-old man led police on a 28km chase across Auckland. He was eventually arrested and charged with two counts of assault person with blunt instrument, failed to stop, dangerous driving and assault on person in family relationship.
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