{"id":430041,"date":"2026-05-16T04:10:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T04:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/430041\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T04:10:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T04:10:12","slug":"whangarei-driver-arrested-after-doing-burnout-in-front-of-police","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/430041\/","title":{"rendered":"Whang\u0101rei driver arrested after doing burnout in front of police"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"All<\/p>\n

\nA Whang\u0101rei driver who performed a burnout in front of police is now facing charges.
\nPhoto: Supplied \/ NZ Police\n<\/p>\n

A Whang\u0101rei driver who performed a burnout in front of police is now facing charges.<\/p>\n

Sergeant Shawn Parker, of the Whang\u0101rei Youth Crime Unit, said police were monitoring a gathering of car enthusiasts at the Okara Shopping Centre on 2 May.<\/p>\n

He said officers were speaking with youths in the area at about 10pm, when one of the vehicles left the meet.<\/p>\n

“A white Honda Accord exited the carpark and performed a burnout through multiple gears along the road,” Sergeant Parker said.<\/p>\n

“The driver appeared to be unaware Police were nearby.”<\/p>\n

The car returned to the gathering a short time later and was stopped by officers, who arrested the 26-year-old driver. His vehicle was also impounded.<\/p>\n

The man is due to appear in Whang\u0101rei District Court on 27 May, charged with operating a motor vehicle with sustained loss of traction.<\/p>\n

Sergeant Parker said the incident served as a reminder that police would not tolerate this type of behaviour.<\/p>\n

“Illegal street activity puts not only those involved at risk, but also members of the public,” he said, noting, in this case, there were young people nearby.<\/p>\n

Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero<\/a>, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Whang\u0101rei driver who performed a burnout in front of police is now facing charges. Photo: Supplied \/…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430042,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,47,42,43,49,46,44,45,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-430041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-audio","tag-current-affairs","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-podcasts","tag-public-radio","tag-radio-new-zealand","tag-rnz","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430041","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=430041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430041\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}