Last updated 18:09, May 29 2018
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Meadow James, the 12-year-old passenger killed in the police chase car crash.
Distraught mother of 12-year-old Meadow James killed after Palmerston North police pursuit gives heart-wrenching interview.
The mother of a 12-year-old girl killed in a police chase near Palmerston North is trying to think what she could have done better.
Meadow James and the car's driver Ihaia McPhee Maxwell, 15, were killed when the stolen blue Subaru they were fleeing police in hit a power pole on Monday.
On Tuesday evening, Meadow's mother Rachel James told 1 News it was the second time she'd lost a child – Meadow's brother Leif James died in eerily similar circumstances in northern Sydney on October 31, 2013. He was also a passenger in a stolen blue Subaru being chased by police.
'You can't blame the police' – Heartbroken grandparents of 15-year-old driver who died in police pursuit speak out.
"I left her in the morning," she said of Meadow.
"The last I knew she was at her course. I came home from work. I find out she's got in this car."
Through tears, Rachel James said she was trying to think of what she could have done differently.
"I could have done better. It's happened.
"There's nothing I could do to change it. I don't blame anyone. I don't blame the boy who's driving... That happened and now I just have to accept it."
Meadow James, the 12-year-old passenger killed in the police chase car crash.
Ihaia's grandfather Dennis Maxwell says he doesn't blame police for what happened.
"That's the problem, people have an opinion. They jump on their keyboard. Away they go without thinking of the consequences. They post it up."
Maxwell said he couldn't do anything about what happened now.
"As far as I'm concerned, that's our moko. We love him."
Grandmother Kat Maxwell remembered Ihaia as being full of life with a lot of potential.
"It's just heartbreaking that he went down the road he did go down. We know he's quite difficult for his parents.
"But, he had a pretty supportive whānau and things just happened and this is the end of the unfortunate events."
Emotional online tributes have appeared for the pair.
One says: "Had no choose but to rest easy at the scene of the crash. We couldn't save her. We all tried what was best for our 12-year-old cousin, friend, sister, neice.
"Meadow [was] loved, loving, the kindest happy person I knew... She was a bright girl with a bright future ahead. She had her choices to make up, but she took the wrong way in [life's] path...
"As in for Ihaia, I just wish you never put my cousin in that position."
Another tribute says: "Rest in peace my beautiful niece. This cop chase s... is so stupid – stupid decisions.
"Little kids thinking this is a good life. Stupid... Hope all kids like this can learn from these mistakes. Shouldn't ahve got in that car pretty girl.
"Far out. See you in a few whānau."
Leif James was 18 at the time of the Australian crash, working as a casual labourer and living with his mother and stepdad in Queensland.
In the Australian police chase, which lasted 80 seconds, the stolen Subaru went through a red light, with two police cars in pursuit. The Subaru then lost control on a right-hand bend before sliding into the path of a ute driving towards it.
When it lost control it was going about 135kmh in an 80kmh zone. Leif James died in hospital of a head injury.
The wreckage from Monday's fatal crash.
There is no evidence he knew the car he was killed in was stolen, according to a coroner's report into his death.
He was a keen rugby, rugby league and touch rugby player.
After the Palmerston North crash, the other passenger in the car, a 15-year-old girl, remains in Palmerston North Hospital on Tuesday evening in a stable condition.
Jack Making saw the start of Monday's fatal pursuit.
The girl, who was sitting in the back seat, suffered serious injuries in the crash, southwest of Palmerston North, on Monday.
Police are yet to formally release the names of those killed.
Ihaia died in Palmerston North Hospital on Monday.
Dean Sandbrook saw the aftermath of Monday's crash near Palmerston North in which a 15-year-old and 12-year-old died.
Jack Making and Juane Hillman saw the chase unfold from their driveway, which looks straight down the centre of Monrad St, where the driver failed to stop.
They watched as the stolen blue Subaru flee, before police sirens sounded.
"The Subaru pushed its way through the traffic and took off. Then the cop did the same thing," Making said.
About 30 seconds later, three more police cars flew past their home.
Making estimated they reached about 150 kmh. Several oncoming cars were forced on to the grass berm as police overtook traffic on Pioneer Highway.
"I've never seen so many police. It was insane. It was crazy.
"It was like watching James Bond."
Hillman believed police should have abandoned the pursuit.
"They knew there were kids in that car. They could have stopped the chase and found the kids later."
Skid marks and a shattered power pole are all that remain at the scene of the crash on Tuesday, where the car plunged into a roadside ditch.
Questions are being asked about how a Palmerston North teenager on bail for serious driving charges ended up at the wheel of a stolen car. The 15-year-old crashed while being chased by police early yesterday afternoon, killing himself and a 12-year-old girl who was a passenger.
A black and white bandanna has also been wrapped around a reflector light.
Five people have now been killed in the past month while fleeing police.
The car crashed into the pole at the intersection with Shirriffs Rd, near Longburn.
It was later revealed Ihaia was on bail for several previous serious driving offences earlier this year.
Stuff understands a warrant for his arrest was issued last week after he failed to appear at court.
Tributes to him were appearing on social media on Tuesday, including: "Oh brooo rest easy, love you loads."
Another said: "Absolutely shocked man. Love you my lil bro. Rest easy and you'll be safe up there."
A concrete power pole has been erected in place of the shattered one that lies in pieces in the ditch. Footprints, gloves and medical vials used by emergency service workers are also lying across the roadside.
Ihaia McPhee Maxwell and Meadow James died, while a 15-year-old girl is in a stable condition in Palmerston North Hospital following a car crash on Monday.
A worker who saw the crash did not expect to find anyone alive.
Dean Sandbrook was on the phone at his engineering business across the road on SH56 when he heard the screech of tyres and saw a blue car flash past.
"They were going very very fast. When the car hit the power pole the power pole actually shot up in the air quite high.
"The car ended up in the drain and when the power pole came down, it came down on the car. The wires here were all hanging down and were actually touching the fence in the yard. I saw them sparking."
Skid marks at the scene of Monday's fatal crash.
He called out to warn his workers about the live wires and two of them shot across the road to help. The car had been badly crushed and he initially thought everyone inside must be dead, until he saw movement from a girl's head inside.
His workers hopped down into the ditch and "were standing on the car's bonnet and talking to the young lady who was still alive and one of the others was unconscious".
They could barely see the younger girl, Meadow.
The ditch where the car ended up after hitting a power pole.
Other workers began trying to warn oncoming traffic because they could not see the downed wires and the car was out of sight in the ditch.
"We just about had a van run through them, but we jumped in front of him and managed to not get hit and then you could see the look on his face as he saw the wires and realised."
The corner was bad for accidents, but there had been fewer since an upgrade about six years ago. Speeding drivers were the main problem, especially at night, he said.
Seeing the wreckage had left several of his workers shaken.
"The police were very good. They offered the guys counselling and victim support."
Central District police commander Superintendent Sue Schwalger said the pursuit lasted 90 seconds, but it is not known what speed the car was travelling at.
At the time of the pursuit the traffic was light, there was light drizzle and the road was dry.
The officer could see the rear-seat passenger trying to get out of the vehicle when he arrived at the scene, she said.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said there had been changes recently for police-chase protocols, "but I think it is high time we took another look at these again".