Public urged to help stop deaths

ACCIDENT VICTIM: Jerome Henry, 18, was the front passenger in the car. Four others, three males and a female, were taken to Southland Hospital with moderate to serious injuries.

AFTERMATH: Emergency services work at the scene of a fatal car crash in Otatara on Friday.

Relevant offers

The family of an Invercargill teen killed in a high-speed car crash in the city on Friday have joined emergency serviecs in calling on youths to slow down before more people die.

Jerome Tuki Henry, 18, was the front-seat passenger in a Subaru WRX that left the road, flattened letterboxes and hit a power pole in Matua Rd, Otatara, near Invercargill, about 9pm.

Four others  three males and a female  were taken to Southland Hospital with moderate to serious injuries. Their names have not been released.

Police would not confirm how fast the car was travelling but The Southland Times understands it was more than 100kmh. Matua Rd has a speed limit of 50kmh.

It took emergency services several hours to free the occupants from the vehicle.

The vehicle had been modified but police would not comment on what those modifications were.

A vehicle information report said the car was registered to Hunter Wagenar, of Palmerston North, but had been sold and ownership was unconfirmed.

The car failed a warrant of fitness inspection on Friday, the report says.

Last night, Jerome's brother Tai Henry, 19, paid tribute to the former Southland Boys' High School student, saying he was a talented athlete and under-19 New Zealand touch representative.

"He was the sort of guy that, if you didn't like him there was probably something wrong with you," he said.

"Once news got round he was in a crash, hundreds of people came to the hospital and ever since he's been back home, there's been group after group visiting  he was loved by all."

Tai said his family had rallied and he himself had travelled from his home in Perth when he heard the news.

Jerome left behind another brother, 17, and 14-year-old sister, he said.

The crash is the second fatal one involving speed and young people in Invercargill in the past six months. In July, teenagers Jesse Langeveld, Tylar Parry, and Ethan Peek were killed when the car they were in slammed into a concrete wall in inner-city Invercargill.

Tai said he was "rocked" when he heard the news of that crash, because he was friends with Tylar Parry's older brother and knew the other boys well.

"I thought that might have sent a message but it's obviously taken one more death for the message to get through," he said. "There is definitely a message in all of this, I wouldn't want Jerome to have died in vain."

Senior Sergeant Bruce Terry, of Invercargill, yesterday called on the community to take action to avoid further deaths.

"The first responsibility is the community's. It has to step up and prevent it when we can. Together ... hopefully we can stop it. We just need people to report stuff when they see high-risk driving and give us the opportunity to deal with it."

Fire Service Southland area manager Brendan Nally said the impact of the crashes went further than the families of the people involved and the time had come for the community to stop accepting the deaths as a "fact of life".

"It's about the community accepting responsibility ... we don't need to lose these young men."

St John Southland district operations manager Pauline Buchanan supported the police call for community action.

Ambulance crews from Riverton had to be brought in to cover a gap in the city created by Friday's crash, something that was occurring more and more, she said.

Invercargill Deputy Mayor Neil Boniface said the council would discuss Friday's crash at today's works and services meeting.

"We have to show leadership in this situation and try and see if there are better ways and methods to try and improve it," he said.

New legislation giving police greater powers to seize vehicles would help get dangerous drivers off the road, but the council also had to take a stand, he said.

"We will certainly look at every opportunity there is to try and encourage parents and the law to come down heavy on transgressors," Mr Boniface said.

"We can't afford to lose young people from our community."

A Maori blessing is understood to have taken place at the crash scene on Saturday morning.

- © Fairfax NZ News