A Counties Manukau police officer accidentally left a spike strip on the roof of a squad car this morning, and after it slipped off and deployed, multiple motorists suffered punctures.
Inspector Tony Wakelin confirmed that one officer had placed a spare set of spikes on the roof of a vehicle without putting them away in their appropriate case before another, without knowing, drove away.
The spikes fell onto the road and spread open across a lane on the busy Railway Rd W in Papakura.
Teresa Stevens was watching from a bus stop about 10.15am, and noticed car after car going over the strip before taking matters into her own hands.
"I was sitting at the bus terminal right by the train station, and there were a few cars that were going past - one car went over it and it flicked it up a little bit and I was like ... 'what the?' ..." Ms Stevens said.
"I then had seen what it was - it was fully open."
Ms Stevens pulled the spike strip off the road and carried it to the nearby Papakura Police Station, where she was met with confusion.
"They did not know why it was there, how it had got there or who had put it there," she said.
"When I turned around there were six or seven people behind me that had flat tires from it - the police said they were willing to repair those damages.
"They were getting quite mad, people had appointments and work."
Inspector Wakelin apologised, and confirmed that police are looking at fixing the punctures.
"We will also be following up this incident with the police officers involved to ensure appropriate processes are followed to prevent this incident from being repeated," he said.
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