Attribute to Counties Manukau District Commander Superintendent Jill Rogers:
A person is in custody following an incident this morning where a male allegedly stole a Police vehicle.
Police were assisting Oranga Tamariki in the transport of a 16-year-old male on a flight from Auckland bound for Wellington.
The incident occurred at around 10.22am, when the teenager was handcuffed in the back of a marked police vehicle at Auckland Airport Police station.
As Police staff were briefly out of the parked vehicle, the youth allegedly managed to get into the driver’s seat and took off in the patrol car, driving through a closed roller door and fleeing the scene.
The vehicle was observed overhead by Eagle helicopter, and was located by ground staff abandoned outside an address in Randwick Park.
Police surrounded the address and at around 11am a male was apprehended and taken into custody.
He will be appearing in the Youth Court this afternoon on charges of unlawfully taking a motor vehicle, dangerous driving and escaping custody. Police cannot rule out further charges.
Counties Manukau District Commander Superintendent Jill Rogers, says this was a serious incident and we will be carrying out a review to establish the full circumstances around how this occurred.
“Thankfully no one was injured during this incident. An internal review will be carried out to ensure the officers followed best practice and to see what, if any learnings we can take from this incident.”
The matter will be referred to the Independent Police Conduct Authority.
ENDS
Nick Baker/NZ Police