A review of the policy of police pursuing drivers will be released later this year, as questions are asked about the deaths of three people during a police chase in Tasman.
The three died after two cars collided near the village of Hope, south of Nelson, on Sunday morning. Two of the dead were in a vehicle fleeing police and an innocent member of the public was in the other car.
The 6km chase began after police tried to stop a vehicle while looking for a wanted person in Richmond.
Assistant commissioner for road policing Sandra Venables said yesterday the review of police pursuit policy, which began last July with the Independent Police Conduct Authority, would be made public later this year.
She said 3.5 million cars were stopped by police each year and one driver in 1000 attempted to flee police.
Public safety and conditions like weather, location and the manner of driving were always taken into consideration by police on the spot.
"They [police] do not go to work to injure or hurt anyone and what happened on Sunday was absolutely tragic.
"But these drivers can always stop - they make a choice. Please pull over.''
She was not aware of a 2009 IPCA review which found many police chases were carried out because of traffic offences and few uncovered evidence of serious crimes. The risks outweighed the benefits.
Ms Venables said the review would ensure the best guidelines were in place for staff when it came to pursuits.
An internal and separate IPCA investigation would be carried out on the Tasman chase.
Eight people died on the roads at the weekend, bringing the road toll to 78 for the year.
The children of Carmen Marie Yanko - the innocent victim who died during the police pursuit in Nelson - have spoken out about their heartbreak.
Ms Yanko was believed to have been travelling to a Sunday market where she operated a stall when she was killed.
It is understood the 53-year-old was also a cancer survivor.
Her children said they were "heartbroken and reeling from this senseless tragedy that occurred early yesterday morning''.
"She lived to be a mother and was there for us always,'' they said.
"Carmen loved and lived fiercely and will be terribly missed by her family and friends.''
The two occupants of the car fleeing from police were Johnathan Tairakena (25) and Phillip Jamie Stretch (33), who also died.
The vehicle driven by disqualified driver Mr Tairakena had led police on a 6km pursuit when they crashed into Ms Yanko's car.
Mr Stretch, a passenger in the car, had a previous conviction for killing someone in a vehicle accident. He was sentenced to 18 months' jail for killing a passenger in a 2001 crash.
Stretch was 17 and drunk when the crash happened.
He pleaded guilty to 14 charges - five of the charges, including drink-driving causing death, resulted from the crash that killed Jamie Kelly (19).
Ms Kelly was one of four passengers in the car driven by Stretch which crashed after going out of control on a bend near Motueka, on May 31, 2001, Fairfax reported.
Tairakena has previous convictions for burglary and theft, including stealing cash from a McDonald's charity donation tin.
- NZN/NZME
