Auckland hit and run motorway crash: 'It was like being inside a tumble dryer'

Friday, 31 January 2020

Sou and Elizabeth Manū's car was totalled after another driver allegedly rear-ended them at speed on Auckland's northwestern motorway.

A woman who was in a hit and run crash which closed Auckland's northwestern motorway says the fact she survived is nothing short of a miracle.

Elizabeth Manū and her husband Sou were on their way to a friend's house in Westgate at about 7.30pm on Saturday when their car was struck from behind, causing it to flip multiple times.

'After that initial impact, it was like being inside a tumble dryer,' she said.

'Both of us were just kind of waiting for it to stop. I just thought that on impact we were going to be gone or we had to just wait and then we would go forever.'

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Sou and Elizabeth Manū feel blessed to be alive after the crash.

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The scene after the crash saw debris spread across the carriageway.

The car landed on its side, with Manū above Sou, hanging by her seat belt. They were both alive and conscious.

Along with passing motorists who had stopped and gathered outside the vehicle, Sou helped his wife climb through the window before climbing through himself.

Manū said the crash happened so fast. One minute she was chatting to Sou, who was driving, and the next they were spinning.

'I just heard him say 'holy heck' and before I could even ask him what he was referring to we were hit and it felt like we just flew.'

Witnesses told the couple their car had rolled four times and claimed the other driver immediately fled the scene.

Passersby who saw the whole thing were surprised the couple were not more seriously injured – Manū sustained abrasions and cuts that needed sutures down her left side, a bump on her head and bruising to her face, while Sou was more or less unscathed.

Manū said when paramedics arrived and saw the wreck, they joked the couple should buy a Lotto ticket.

But the couple, who are Christians, don't put their survival down to sheer luck.

'On impact we'd both prayed whatever we could get out. We'd both really called out to God. When the car stopped and we looked at each other and we realised we'd made it, immediately we both knew that we had been protected,' Manū said.

'We knew what we had gone through, it was horrendous. We knew that something greater than us had protected us in that moment.'

Manū and Sou were taken to North Shore Hospital for assessment and were discharged the next morning.

On Monday, Manū shared their story in a Facebook post, which has since been shared nearly 1000 times. While she had received a few messages from trolls, she said the response had been overwhelmingly positive.

A 35-year-old man has been charged in relation to the crash with driving with excess breath alcohol, recklessly operating a motor vehicle, and failing to stop or ascertain injury.

He appeared at Waitakere District Court on Friday and will reappear next month.