Fleeing driver ploughs into van in Hamilton East

Monday, 8 June 2026

A driver fleeing police has smashed into a van in Hamilton East, closing the road.

The driver was attempting to evade police when the vehicle crashed at the southern end of Grey St about noon on Monday, Senior Sergeant Chris Painter of Waikato police said.

Four people were injured - one person is in a serious condition and the other three are in a moderate condition.

Witness Peter Richards was in Hamilton East looking for a cafe after a visit to Waikato Hospital when he saw the incident unfold.

“So the white van was pulling out and the white car was basically in the middle of the road, wrong side of the road, and just hit it head on,” he told the Waikato Times at the scene. “Within 30 seconds, the cops were there.”

Richards said he believed police thought one of the drivers may have been armed.

“They ripped the door open, chucked them out on the ground. The other people were injured, but not badly.”

His partner Dawn Taylor said there was a woman at the wheel in the van and a young man in the passenger seat.

When they were hit, the impact shunted their vehicle back into another driver on the roadside.

She was told by police that the fleeing driver was a gang member.

Tony Naere was across the road and heard a loud bang as the crash happened.

'I was probably like right across the park, and they came right down, up and around on a big loop up here, and yeah, coppers all chasing around and banging.

'I just knew it wasn't gonna end well, I mean, the way he was driving pretty quick. But the coppers were coming from every direction too, so they were narrowing him in, you know, boxing him in, so it might have made him a little bit more out of control.

'Yeah, [the police] didn't have a chance to throw spikes or anything at them, they couldn't get them.'

The road is closed between Wellington and Albert streets and cordons are in place.