High speed car flip leads to dramatic citizen’s arrest in James, Circuit, Woodroffe
Witnesses describe a dramatic crash and citizen's arrest in Woodroffe that could have been a ‘mass casualty’ event. Read the details.
Witnesses have described a dramatic crash and citizen’s arrest on a quiet Palmerston street on Monday night.
The single vehicle rollover happened just after 6pm on James Circuit with four adult men spilling out of the flipped vehicle.
Peta Brewster was inside her home when she heard the Toyota RAV4 “flying down the street”.
“It was almost like a movie,” she said.
“I got out the front and saw the car flipped with dust everywhere.
“The driver was stuck and tried to crawl out the passenger side door.”
A man grabbed the driver and placed him under citizen’s arrest.
The heroic builder spoke with the NT News on the condition of anonymity.
“It was bloody ridiculous — that could have easily been a mass casualty event,” the man said.
Leading up to the crash scene were two sturdy trees and a trail of skid marks.
Beside the flipped car was a power transformer.
“I can’t believe no one was killed,” the man said.
“If they had hit the tree they’d still be wrapped around it.
“If they had hit the transformer it could have electrified the ground and anyone out there could be killed.
“The driver was shaken and tried to escape, but I said ‘you’re not going anywhere mate’ and held him down.
“He was absolutely wasted and kept babbling on saying ‘they made me do it, they made me drive fast’.”
The man said he held the intoxicated driver for seven to eight minutes before police arrived and arrested him.
An NT Police spokeswoman confirmed the 36-year-old man returned a positive alcohol test and was transported to RDH for further testing.
The spokeswoman said police believed he was the driver as investigations into the crash “remain ongoing”.
The fate of the three other occupants remains unknown, but police could confirm the vehicle was not stolen.
Surveying the damage the morning after, Ms Brewster, whose two children were inside at the time of the crash, said she was not shocked to see more crime in her neighbourhood.
“I’m not surprised — look what’s going on lately,” the mother said.
It is not Ms Brewster’s first brush with the impacts of crime, having sadly lost a friend in a incident allegedly involving a car theft in Yarrawonga a year ago.
“This is just second fiddle to that.
“In the last four weeks I have had to call the police twice.
“Once there was a kid walking around with a spear fishing pole poking into fences, and another for a man who ripped off a branch and tried to beat a dog.”
For now Ms Brewster said all she could do was contact the insurer and victims of crime to help pay for some of the damage.
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Originally published as High speed car flip leads to dramatic citizen’s arrest in James, Circuit, Woodroffe
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