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'I heard it crash ... then someone scream': Neighbour recounts crash and attack on driver

Author
Danielle Zollickhofer,
Publish Date
Wed, 16 Jul 2025, 1:16pm
Police are investigating after a car crashed into a Fairfield, Hamilton property before the driver was allegedly assaulted. Photo / Malisha Kumar
Police are investigating after a car crashed into a Fairfield, Hamilton property before the driver was allegedly assaulted. Photo / Malisha Kumar

'I heard it crash ... then someone scream': Neighbour recounts crash and attack on driver

Author
Danielle Zollickhofer,
Publish Date
Wed, 16 Jul 2025, 1:16pm

A Hamilton resident says angry locals attacked the driver of a car that crashed into a house, injuring a person.

Emergency services were called to Marshall St in Fairfield about 8.30pm on Thursday.

A street resident, who wished to stay anonymous, said they heard what was going on before they witnessed the altercation from their window.

鈥淚 heard a car engine rev and then saw the headlights on our ceiling coming in from the road.

鈥淚 heard it crash ... then someone scream. By then, I had already opened the door because I was worried someone had hit my car and to see what was going on.

鈥淥ur neighbour next to us said, 鈥榮ome guy just crashed through that fence and hit someone鈥.

鈥淎 few of the surrounding neighbours were already outside, on the phone to 111 and helping the lady who had been hit.

鈥淢y family member was here from Wellington visiting and he ran out to move his car, which was parked in the driveway ... he noticed it had been hit too.

鈥淚 went upstairs to check on my kids and saw from my window that some [people] were beating the driver up.

鈥淭his altercation went on from the crash scene to just a couple of houses down the road.

The resident said they weren鈥檛 able to see anything else as they were trying to stop their kids from looking out the window.

鈥淭he driver is really lucky no kids were outside at the time the accident happened.

鈥淏eing the school holidays, there are always kids in and out of each other鈥檚 houses, playing on bikes n scooters and playing basketball.

鈥淚t was a blessing no one else was hurt.鈥

They said they weren鈥檛 worried for their safety, but they were 鈥渋n shock鈥.

鈥淔airfield always has something going on, but [I] never thought it would happen this close to our house. I was just thankful he didn鈥檛 crash into our house.鈥

Police said they were notified of a car hitting a house about 8.30pm on July 10, 鈥渃ausing one occupant of the house to receive critical injuries鈥.

鈥淔ollowing the crash, there was an altercation between the driver and surrounding neighbours.

鈥淭he driver of the vehicle received critical injuries during the assault and was transported to hospital, where they remain in a serious condition.鈥

No charges had been laid.

Police said yesterday, there were 鈥渘o updates for release at this stage鈥.

鈥淭he investigation is ongoing.鈥

Hato Hone St John said they were notified at 8.29pm and sent two ambulances and three rapid response vehicles.

鈥淭wo patients were assessed at the scene, with both transported to Waikato Hospital in a critical condition.鈥

Fire and Emergency New Zealand said they responded at 8.26pm.

鈥淔our crews from Hamilton and Chartwell attended and were at the scene for just over an hour.鈥

Danielle Zollickhofer is the Waikato news director and a multimedia journalist at the Waikato Herald. She joined 九一星空无限 in 2021 and is based in Hamilton.

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