Youth dies running from Police
Posted by pauaprincess on August 12, 2007
I’m sick of reading headlines about youths running from the Police and getting killed because they lose control of their overpowered vehicles. The latest happened in the Hawkes Bay on Friday Night.
Luke Wooster of Flaxmere, Hastings aged 17 and driving a Honda CRX on a learner licence at 1am in the morning, ran from a Police patrol at speeds estimated to be up to 180km in a 70km zone and crashed his car into a bridge, killing himself and seriously injuring his passenger. Police didn’t get within 500m of him before he crashed.
Yes it’s a tragedy, but it’s a tragedy of Luke Wooster’s making.
- He was a learner driver,
- He was driving a powerful vehicle a Honda CRX has a 1600 engine (1590cc rating) coupled with a lightweight hatchback body
- He was 17 years old
- He made a stupid, stupid choice that he didn’t have to make
Luke’s father says he is a little angry with the Police for chasing Luke,
“because if he had stopped, all they would have been able to do was get him for a $400 fine”
what’s more he and Luke had a discussion about what to do if followed by reds and blues a few weeks ago, he’d told Luke to stop. I’m sorry, really I am that yet another young life has been wasted. But it beggars belief that Mr Wooster would be angry with Police for chasing his son for speeding. Instead of telling Luke what to do if he saw Police behind him, why didn’t he tell his son not to drive until he had a licence? Why was his 17 yr son out in a powerful car known for it’s attraction to boy racer types at 1am on a Saturday morning carrying passengers? A learner licence merely gives one licence to learn to drive, with an experience supervisor sitting beside them, during daylight hours.
Mr Wooster also said “when no serious crime had been committed and a vehicle wouldn’t stop, officers should take note of registration plates – “they will end up catching up with them, and they will all live to tell the tale”. He then goes on to allege that the age of the driver of the Police patrol determines whether or not someone will crash.
Ummm ok and how is a Policeman traveling 500 metres behind a vehicle at 180kph going to
A: Know that no serious crime has taken place and
B: take down a registration plate without the aid of binoculars and night vision equipment? and
C: what if the vehicle itself is stolen and as yet unreported?
Let’s look at the facts:
People who run from the Police have various reasons for doing so; they may be wanted, they may be in a stolen vehicle, they may just be afraid, they may have just committed or be about to commit a serious crime like rape or murder, they may be armed. How is a Police Officer to know which it is based solely on the fact that the driver put his foot down and fled?
If Police do not pursue the vehicle and the driver kills an innocent pedestrian, crashes into a house or commits further serious crimes, who gets the blame?
It’s illegal to fail to stop for red and blue lights, the driver has broken the law and put the welfare of the public in danger by running if they weren’t already breaking the law when Police attempted to stop them.
I’m sorry, this is down to Luke Wooster. He chose to speed, he chose to run rather than face a fine. I personally think the fines system is an utter waste of time because only the honest amongst us actually pay them. You read about people owing thousands of dollars in fines and Judges wiping them in favor of community service because they know, the culprit can’t afford to pay, but that is a rant for another day.
The Paua Palace 
anonymous said
keep ur opinions 2 urself he was a mate of mine
pauaprincess said
How about you learn from his example and I continue to voice my opinion as the law allows.
bee said
don’t forget, that fool endangered he lives of the cops too. so, no, people shouldn’t keep their opinions to themselves. if people don’t like to read others’ opinions, there’s an arrow at the top of their browser window that can take them elsewhere. i hate it when people try to censor others.
Hunter said
Very well stated, Pauaprincess.
A pity,’anonymous’, about your comment above; are you really as lacking in courage as you are functionally illiterate? (And no, losing a mate doesn’t excuse bad manners, please Grow up.)
If you were close mates—I’d advise some driving lessons, too.
pauaprincess said
I think its that misplaced don’t speak ill of the dead thing in anon’s case. Thanks for your comment 🙂
Hunter said
PP, Hi
I heard a radio interview with the sister of the deceased, and have been writing a rebuttal (for my own blog). I was researching, came across yours. You’ve pretty well covered what I was saying, but I’ll post it anyway …
pauaprincess said
cool let me know where I will come see, maybe we can link em all up 🙂
Hunter said
You may not like my style — I ramble, but it’s from the heart.
http://people.sharemynz.co.nz/cassandra
It’s the latest post in the ‘Can of Worms’ part.
Good luck!
pauaprincess said
Great article, I’ve added your site to my blogroll 🙂
grace said
um…i guess we all have our opinions and everyone has a right to voice them.just stepping away from the accident itself has anyone ever thought of what luke’s family would be going through? is going through? i didn’t know luke, but i do know his siblings
and from what i gather they’re a pretty close-knit family.so maybe if we could just consider what it would be like waking up every morning knowing you’ve lost a son and a brother,expecting to see him walk down the drive,but then reality sets in and you know he’s never coming back.It’s been 9 months seen the accident but Yeah,it’s gonna suck pretty bad,no amount of time is going to wipe out the death of a family member.
pauaprincess said
Grace there’s barely a human being alive in the world that doesn’t lose somebody they love at some point, death is inevitable. What isn’t inevitable is that a boy would waste his life that way and his family have every right to grieve for his loss. However, they shouldn’t be blaming the Police. The Police didn’t make Luke run, Luke made that choice himself. The Police didn’t knowingly allow Luke to drive on a Learners licence, a learners licence is not a drivers licence and it doesn’t allow the holder to drive alone with his mates at 1am in the morning. If Luke hadn’t crashed, he wouldn’t have got a $400 fine, he would have been charged with failing to stop for red and blue lights, his speed and age were such that he would have had his car immediately impounded, his licence immediately suspended and he would have been arrested for his speed as well.
big uncle chop chop said
your mate was obviously a complete fucking dickhead so!!
or a criminal otherwise he wouldnt have took chase! and was obviously a shit driver too!
you really should learn from his stupidity no one cares if he was your friend and no one cares if your feelings are hurt! it does not take away from the fact your friend was a fucking moron! i really like the post thanks man!
Anonymous said
none of yous even knew luke or what he was like so all of you can shut up
Walter said
You know. I have had very good mates, who died, doing very stupid things.
I hold my dead mates as wholly responsible for their stupidity.
Lord knows, there were enough people who tried to get them to wise up.
I can understand how someone suffering grief, would try to find someone else to blame. That’s a natural reaction.
It takes awhile to calm down and see the situation for what it is. In the light of day.
rebuttal said
big uncle chop chop
i find it hard to believe that you could even say something as insensitive as that. I would ask you how you would feel if someone said something like that about your loved ones but I guess you just wouldn’t give a shit either, because they were probably a ‘fucking dickhead’ and a ‘fucking moron’ aswell.
pauaprincess
i agree with some of the points you’ve made, however i do not agree with the way in which you have handled the replies to your blog
‘Grace there’s barely a human being alive in the world that doesn’t lose somebody they love at some point, death is inevitable.’ yes death is inevitable, so you must also realise that grief is inevitable, there are many stages to grief and as you are ‘highly educated’ and ‘literate’ you should know the ins and outs of the cycle of grief. shock, denial, anger, guilt, pain and sorrow.
have you stopped to think why the family are blaming the police? and that maybe there is reasoning behind the police being blamed?
even if the reasoning for blaming the police is viewed as incorrect who are we to judge how someone should grieve.
the wooster family is in shock, denial and are angry, who else will they look to to blame for their sons death.
the people who were there, the people who sparked the pursuit, the very people that Luke Wooster was afriad or perhaps intimidated by. the police.
although I by no means am blaming the police i simply want everyone to take a step back and see it from the families perspective.
Why is everyone so quick to find the faults and lay the blame, when they have not stood back and had a closer look and put themselves in the other persons situatiion.
Nichole said
Hello , Happy Fool’s Day!
A man dies and goes to Heaven. He gets to meet God and asks God if he can ask him a few questions.
“Sure,” God says, “Go right ahead”.
“OK,” the man says. “Why did you make women so pretty?”
God says, “So you would like them.”
“OK,” the guy says. “But how come you made them so beautiful?”
“So you would LOVE them,” God replies.
The man ponders a moment and then asks, “But why did you make them such airheads?”
God says, “So they would love you!”
Happy April Fool’s Day!
M00 said
Luke was my sisters boyfriend. She and Lukes family suffered immensly after Luke passed away. My family suffered watching my sister suffer. Of course it was his own silly fault. Of course he could have hurt someone else. Do you think the family doesn’t know all of that? Of course Wayne wanted someone to blame. That is a natural reaction to what happened.
1000’s of teenagers will speed and crash and many will die. Teenagers are reckless. It has been happening for years and will continue for years from now.
Perhaps you can find it in your shallow and pathetic little heart to have a little sympathy to those left behind. Your blog helps no-one. Sitting behind your computer screen is not stopping anyone from speeding. I wonder if you have children who will one day become teenagers and do reckless stuff that you don’t even know about? If you have kids, I assure you, this will happen.
Perhaps you should keep your comments to yourself untill you have lived a bit more, something that won’t happen if you hide behind your computer screen.
Rest in Peace Luke, their lives will forever be changed without you in them.