All four adults riding a quadbike that crashed in Hawke's
Bay, leaving a 6-year-old girl seriously injured, could be
charged if they won't reveal who was driving, police say.
Ashlee Shorrock remains in a stable condition at Starship
children's hospital in Auckland after the crash at Waimarama
Beach shortly before midnight on January 2 but none of the
adults involved has told police who was at the wheel.
"If we were unable to establish who was actually driving
they'll all be charged," Senior Sergeant Fred van Duuren of
Hawke's Bay police said today.
"There is case law that if you're unable to show who was
driving then you can obtain blood from everybody who's
suspected of being a driver," he said.
Police have taken blood samples from each of the four adults
involved to test for traces of drugs and alcohol.
They previously said the types of injuries suffered by people
in crashes could often help determine where they were
positioned in a vehicle, and who was driving.
The crash was one of a spate of quadbike incidents over the
Christmas holiday period ending in death and injury that led
to renewed calls for better safety around bike use.
- By Matthew Theunissen of APNZ
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