Lance Burdett: Man fatally hit three times on motorway

Three drivers who fatally hit a man walking on Auckland's South-Western Motorway are being urged to come forward. 

Not one stopped, despite striking the man after he entered the northbound Dominion Road offramp about 1:30am. 

Former Police Detective Lance Burdett says it's highly unusual to have three vehicles not stopping. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Police are appealing to the public after a man died
on Auckland's Southwestern Motorway overnight. The victim was struck by
three separate vehicles that all failed to stop. Police are
asking for drivers passing through the area between one thirty
am and two am to come forward, especially those with
dash cam footage. Lance Burdette is a former senior police
detective and he is with me now. Good evening, Lance,

(00:22):
thanks so much for your time. What is your reaction
to three vehicles failing to stop?

Speaker 2 (00:29):
It's quite unusual to me, to be frank, I have
been involved in the investigations where one vehicle is hit,
but not three. And basically I got it down to a
panic of those drivers that have that have struck some
when you don't expect it on the motorway, but when
it happens, we are bound to stop. However, in the

(00:50):
heat at the moment when fight or flight kicks in,
so flight will click and if we feel somebody's is
threatening us, but if we do something then fly it
tends to kicking and we panic and obviously run away.

Speaker 1 (01:04):
I mean it's a pretty serious offense failing to stop,
isn't it?

Speaker 2 (01:07):
Yeah, it is, and people in the head of the
moment don't stop about to see the consequences. And again
going back to previous interviews I've done with with you know,
not so much here, but certainly with criminals, they don't
see the consequences of their actions. It's just the excitement
of the of the actual hunt, if you like, of
doing it, the challenge of doing it, so they don't

(01:29):
think about, you know, I could go to jail for this,
or or you know, oh goodness me, there's somebody you know,
it's a tragedy. Can only guess it's to remind us
of why the person was on the motorway. It's hasn't
been found, so it can't appear the persons come from
a breakdown of a vehicle.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
Dance is three there? If the police know that three
vehicles hit the pedestrian, would they have video footage of
that from a camera or are they able to tell
that from the victim?

Speaker 2 (02:00):
There would be a number of other forensics would be yet. Yes,
I'm victims down on the vehicle for a start, But
there are a massive cameras on all of the motorways
and they are high definition cameras, so I'm quite confident
that at least one or two or all three will
be soon discovered those vehicles, because yeah, it is good,

(02:22):
high quality footage they've got.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
Okay, it's good to hear people becoming more Brasian vehicles.
Do you think is our tolerance intolerance on the road troubling.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
Yes, it's a phenomenon. It's been global and it's been
going on for about two and a half years. It's
it comes to believe it, out of lockdown. Vehicles have
been used as weapons, as we can say in the police,
to assault police and you know Heaven provision. We've seen
it to kill police, driving vehicles into crowds at pedestrians.
It's it's what those phenomena that's it's going global, and

(02:55):
you know, I'm not sure how we're going to combat it.
I think it's a tougher penalty might go some way.
But as I say, in the heat of the moment,
when things happen, people don't stop to think about the
consequences of their actions. So I think just a bit
more understanding of when you're driving that you are driving
a vehicle and you've got a responsibility.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
But a lot of people would stop lance you know,
a lot of people, even in shock and horror what
might have happened and what has a lot of.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
People absolutely that's a freeze, right, So if it's something
that really horrible happens to us, we go into freeze
and we will stop. But if we have some sort
of again, I can only go off the work I
do now. And also people I've interviewed, if it's absolute
shock and horror, we will stop, and the brain basically

(03:44):
shuts down and says, I don't know, just stop. And
that's that freeze part that we don't talk about often.
But if they're in some sort of cognizance of I've
had a person, what's going to happen to me? I
don't know? Flee? And again, how are apart with these
vehicles where they all together? But it's a horrific thing

(04:04):
to think that you wouldn't stop. I can't understand it myself,
but I'm only trying to explain this best I can.

Speaker 1 (04:13):
I appreciate that because I think many of us are
absolutely appalled by this news, and of course our thoughts
with the victim's family and friends and things. I think
a lot of us have been horrified by this story.
So thank you Lance for trying to put it into
some perspective for us. Lance Burdette is a former senior
police detective. Thank you very much for your text as well.

(04:35):
Someone has suggested it could be a truck and trailer
that made it appear like three separate vehicles. Another person said,
I think I would know if I hit something on
the road with my car. I think the person should
have contacted the police if they did it or not
the person was hit by three vehicles. If the driver
was on the motorway at that time of the morning,
then you should ring in because you were in the

(04:56):
area and chances are that it wasn't even you. You know,
assist the police do the right thing. Thank you for
your text. You can text anytime throughout the show on
ninety two ninety two

Speaker 2 (05:08):
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