An innocent man has been left seriously injured after a getaway car police were pursuing crashed into his ute on Auckland's Southern Motorway.
Police say two men threatened about a dozen staff and customers at the Westpac bank in Pukekohe with a hammer before stealing cash and fleeing in a car.
Speaking at a news conference on Monday afternoon, Superintendent John Tims said the stolen BMW reached speeds of 140km an hour on the motorway before crashing into the ute near the Karaka interchange, causing both vehicles to roll.
He says the ute driver suffered serious head and neck injuries and the two men in the car also suffered serious head injuries. All three men are in Middlemore Hospital.
Mr Tims says the outcome was not ideal but officers had to do their duty. "We're here to keep everyone safe but we also have an obligation when two people go into a bank, rob people of cash, change the lives of those who were in the bank forever; we have a responsibility to apprehend those people and that's what we did today."
He says police found cash and a hammer at the crash scene but are not sure if some stolen money is still unaccounted for.
He cannot confirm reports that some money blew across the motorway.
The Independent Police Conduct Authority will investigate the pursuit. Police say the arrested men are likely to face robbery charges.
Two northbound lanes between Drury and Takanini were closed for some time after the crash.
Heroic attempt, says witness
A woman who witnessed the holdup says the attempts of a passerby to stop one of the robbers was heroic.
Tina Youngs, who works at a real estate office across from the bank that was held up says she saw a scuffle between one of the robbers and a member of the public.
She says despite the man's "courageous" effort the robber escaped. "The real hero in all this was the guy that did kind of catch the guy but he got away. I thought that was really brave of him. He got him down; he got him round the corner; everyone was else was following behind him and he managed to catch him They were kind of tussling on the ground ... and then all of a sudden he got free."
Police are seeking any witnesses to the robbery who haven't yet come forward, or to the erratic driving on the motorway. They also want to hear from anyone who may have filmed any of the robbery.
