Kiwi coppers heroes in sinking car drama

18 February 2015 - 02:41 By ©The Daily Telegraph
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A driver is lucky to be alive after police smashed the rear window of her car and hauled her out moments before it sank in a New Zealand harbour.

The two constables leapt into Waitemata Harbour, in Auckland, after the 63-year-old woman's BMW shot over the car park wall at a ferry terminal and plunged into the sea.

As the car rapidly filled with water the terrified woman could be seen scrambling into the rear seats to reach an air pocket.

The officers, and two members of the public who also jumped into the water, struggled unsuccessfully to open the doors of the two-door saloon, which was by then three-quarters submerged.

After one of the policemen failed to smash a side window with his truncheon, his colleague found a large rock and threw it at the car's rear window, smashing it.

Together they hauled the driver to safety.

The officers, later identified as Constable Paul Watts and Constable Simon Russell, were hailed as heroes for saving the woman's life.

She was taken to North Shore Hospital where she was reported to be uninjured but under observation.

The BMW sank to the bottom of the harbour but was winched out to assist the police in investigating the cause of the accident.

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