While Hintz wasn\u2019t in his car, and he didn\u2019t crash, he still took part in an illegal street race that resulted in the other car crashing, killing the 16-year-old girl and severely injuring the driver.<\/p>\n
Jack Greer of Palmerston North has been sentenced for his involvement in the fatal street race. Photo \/ Facebook<\/p>\n
According to the summary of facts, Greer had been at a work function on the evening of October 31 last year. <\/p>\n
He left around 1am, the same time another driver, whom he did not know, left the same event. <\/p>\n
Greer followed the car of the other driver, a then 17-year-old boy who had in the car with him Hintz and another passenger, Sarah Crawford.<\/p>\n
As they travelled along Fitzherbert Ave in Palmerston North, Greer overtook the other car at an intersection, travelling more than 100 km\/h.<\/p>\n
He then received a call from Crawford, whom he knew, challenging him to another race. <\/p>\n
One of the main roads in the city, John F Kennedy Drive, was agreed upon, and the two cars pulled up beside one another at 1.45am before taking off.<\/p>\n
Greer\u2019s car reached a speed of up to 142 km\/h on the suburban street, but it was the driver of the other car who lost control just 600m into the race as he entered a corner, eventually striking a tree. <\/p>\n
Hintz died at the scene, and the driver suffered a traumatic brain injury and spent a month in a specialist rehabilitation centre. <\/p>\n
That driver appeared in the Youth Court in June, meaning he can not be named, and was sentenced to six months\u2019 supervision. He was ordered to pay $5000 to Hintz\u2019s family and $2000 to Crawford. <\/p>\n
However, because Greer was over 18, his case went to the District Court, where he was charged with causing Hintz\u2019s death by way of his participation in the race. <\/p>\n
\u2018Peers make each other think\u2019<\/p>\n
At his sentencing, Judge Bruce Northwood said it was to Greer\u2019s credit that after the crash, he stopped and did a U-turn to check on the occupants. <\/p>\n
\u201cAll too often in court, we deal with crash cases, and somebody runs. They do not take responsibility. They leave the scene and the destruction behind,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Greer said in a pre-sentence report that he had persistent thoughts about the crash, and had sold the 1998 Subaru Legacy he\u2019d been driving that night. <\/p>\n
He has done restorative justice with Hintz\u2019s family, has apologised to them and has agreed to write them letters as well. <\/p>\n
There was also talk between Greer and Hintz\u2019s family about contributing to a campaign to make streets safer. <\/p>\n
Greer received discounts for an early guilty plea, youth and for his remorse.<\/p>\n
However, when it came to emotional harm reparation, his lawyer, Philip Drummond, suggested he speak at local school assemblies instead. <\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026it has the potential to send a powerful message to the age group that are at risk,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe reality is teens do not give any thought to the potential for something to go wrong, and what seems like good fun can turn into tragedy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Drummond\u2019s idea followed the sentencing of the youth who was driving the other car that night, where his sentencing judge suggested he connect with vulnerable young people to dissuade them from adopting \u201cthe boy racer bravado\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are the vulnerable young people who could be swayed,\u201d Judge Jill Moss told the youth. \u201cPeers make each other think.\u201d<\/p>\n
Judge Northwood said that his colleague, Judge Moss, was saying that Greer and the other driver had a role in helping people \u201cnot be the fools you and he were that night\u201d.<\/p>\n
As such, Judge Northwood didn\u2019t order Greer to make an emotional harm payment at his sentencing, but said that by way of an apology to the family, he could speak to students at Awatapu College, where he attended, to talk about what happened. <\/p>\n
Greer\u2019s lawyer told NZME that his client intended to do this as soon as his sentence of home detention ended in roughly seven months. <\/p>\n
Awatapu College principal Gary Yeatman said he would be open to the possibility of Greer speaking at an assembly. <\/p>\n
Jeremy Wilkinson is an Open Justice reporter based in Manawat\u016b, covering courts and justice issues with an interest in tribunals. He has been a journalist for nearly a decade and has worked for NZME since 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While Hintz wasn\u2019t in his car, and he didn\u2019t crash, he still took part in an illegal street…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21233,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1443,1558,3549,634,22264,2245,8532,2082,2740,71,6868,22260,22263,22261,22259,3958,3375,1304,111,43,139,22258,69,15363,2682,6292,22262,7798,20296,3512,4062,5161,5815,5424,5163,10706,1361,6859,6923,4741],"class_list":["post-21232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-about","tag-been","tag-crash","tag-death","tag-discourage","tag-early","tag-ended","tag-for","tag-former","tag-from","tag-girl","tag-greer","tag-happened","tag-hintz","tag-jack","tag-judge","tag-killed","tag-morning","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-norths","tag-nz","tag-olivia","tag-others","tag-palmerston","tag-participated","tag-race","tag-racer","tag-racing","tag-school","tag-sentenced","tag-speak","tag-street","tag-teen","tag-teenage","tag-that","tag-told","tag-what","tag-young"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21232"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21232\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}