Camera van in smash probe

Police are investigating whether an officer operating a speed camera contributed to a three-car smash which killed a man and left four people seriously injured.

Robert Frazer, 65, died and his step-daughter and her three young children were seriously hurt in the crash on SH1, north of Tirau, last month.

The 29-year-old woman, who was driving, was attempting to turn right into the farm properties of Longview Trust, where her partner lived and worked.

But a turning bay on the left-hand side of the road, which the trust paid Transit about $7000 to build to protect residents and visitors, was occupied by a police van operating a speed camera.

The woman tried to turn into the property from the centre of the road and was hit from behind by a car. That propelled her black sedan into the opposite lane, where it was hit again by an on-coming vehicle.

Mr Frazer, who was the front seat passenger, died at the scene.

Longview Trust chairman Alex Baldwin yesterday said the crash had sparked "anger and frustration" among his staff and trustees, especially after the same police officer was seen parked in the turning bay earlier this month less than four weeks after the accident.

"What I'm saying is this: if the police car had not been in our layby, this accident would not have happened."

Mr Baldwin wants disciplinary action taken against the officer if the police investigation into the crash finds his actions contributed to it.

"But my main concern is that this practice stops forthwith and it doesn't happen again.

"I provided this facility for our staff and hey presto, the police are there nabbing speeding vehicles."

Senior Sergeant Murray Hamilton, of Taupo police, yesterday confirmed the van was parked in the turning bay at the time of the smash. Police are investigating what role, if any, it played in the crash.

The police van was photographed and its position was marked by investigators, Mr Murray said.

"It was factored into it and is part of the scene so it will all be looked at."

National Party police spokesman Chester Burrows has requested a copy of the traffic incident report under the Official Information Act. "We will be watching this very closely," Mr Burrows said.

Longview's farm manager Bill Macky said when he saw the same officer parked in the turning bay earlier this month he approached him and asked him to leave. "As soon as I mentioned the accident he said `I didn't cause it'.

"I told him we weren't happy about the circumstances of the crash...so I asked him to move, which he did."

Mr Macky said the woman is out of hospital but traumatised. "[Her partner] has chucked his job in now because she doesn't want to be turning into that gateway on the farm so he's going to live with her in Hamilton."

- © Fairfax NZ News