'This was more than dumb': Boy racer who rammed police car gets dressing down from judge

Wednesday, 27 November 2024

A teenager who slammed a stolen ute into a police car - forcing officers to flee for their lives - at a boy racer “invasion” event near Hamilton has avoided jail.

In the final act of a saga that captured national attention - and resulted in a manhunt that led to the wrong people being identified in CCTV footage released by the police - Bronsonfalcon Randall-Cookson, 19, of Ōtorohanga, was sentenced in the Hamilton District Court on Tuesday.

His punishment included four months of community detention, 12 months supervision and an order to pay $4000 in reparation to the police that will partly cover the $30,000 worth of damage he caused.

He had earlier pleaded guilty to charges of intentionally damaging a police car knowing that danger to life was likely to ensue; driving recklessly on Horotiu Bridge Rd; and knowingly receiving a stolen Ford truck.

But there was more to Randall-Cookson’s story than the moment he aggressively reversed at speed into the cop car at 2.35am on Sunday, August 18 in front of a crowd of about 250 enthralled onlookers at the Horotiu Rd/Great South Rd intersection.

It was a story that began with the theft of the ute from a property in the Coromandel Peninsula on July 29.

As the summary of facts on the case reveals, the vehicle was subsequently traded to a Mr Wild, who lived in Auckland. Mr Wild put it up for sale on Facebook, where it was spotted by Randall-Cookson who offered to trade his own car for it.

Randall-Cookson’s car was worth about $600 and was not road-worthy. The stolen ute was worth $8000.

It would have been abundantly clear to Randall-Cookson that it had been stolen. The ignition barrel had been pulled, the back left window had been broken, and the licence plate was registered to a BMW.

Despite knowing all of this, he kept the ute and, on Saturday August 17 took it to the “invasion”, in which hundreds of people spent the night driving around Hamilton and the Waikato, doing burnouts and taking part in street races.

One of these gatherings was at the Horotiu intersection. As well as the street racers, there were numerous police on the scene too - but they were not welcome.

They were being pelted with bottles. Their patrol cars were being kicked. And, shortly before the incident one person had been shining a laser light at the eyes of the officers.

That man had just been arrested and was being bundled into the back of a patrol car in handcuffs when Randall-Cookson - who had been parked up on a grass verge nearby - started up the ute and drove into the intersection, placing it directly behind the police vehicle.

Without warning he rammed the ute into the rear of the police car. Five officers, completely taken by surprise, scrambled to get clear.

Randall-Cookson - who was wearing a full-face balaclava in a bid to avoid being identified - hooned off down Great South Rd on the wrong side of the road, weaving in between the people on the road.

He then returned, zooming through the intersection with his headlights off before roaring off to Huntly.

Meanwhile, the ramming had “ignited the crowd” who started to kick other nearby police cars. The entire incident had been filmed and was subsequently widely shared on Snapchat and Instagram.

Once in Huntly, he got an associate to spraypaint the white ute black, in a bid to avoid detection.

It didn’t work. He was caught - still in Huntly - and arrested the following day.

In court, Judge Tini Clark said she was astounded by Randall-Cookson’s actions.

“Young people do dumb things. This was something more than dumb. It was extremely dangerous.”

She was also astounded the police had not wanted to participate in a restorative justice meeting, as they had provided the court with some “pretty compelling” victim statements.

“I’m concerned this situation has not sunk in … I have a sorry-looking teenager before me, but nothing to say he gets it.”

Randall-Cookson’s lawyer Jesse Lang said he had had been encouraged by others to ram the police car but had “quickly become aware of how wrong his actions were” and was now very remorseful.

The teenager had found employment at a local swimming pool complex, and wanted to pay back the police, Lang said.

He could afford $4000 - however Judge Clark observed that figure was “a small part of the harm he caused the New Zealand taxpayer”.

Randall-Cookson was also disqualified from driving for six months.