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Owen Fraser sat at the dining room table around lunchtime on her 72nd birthday, listening intently as Judge Colin Doherty read aloud the police watchdog investigation into a fatal chase that killed her husband.
He heard how the fleeing car was chased through seven red lights, reaching speeds of 137 km / h, before colliding with Kenneth McCaul on his way to work.
Judge Doherty, president of the Independent Police Conduct Authority, told him that the officers should not have started the chase. There were “multiple occasions” where it should have been abandoned, he said.
After reading the report Wednesday, Judge Doherty put down the paper and asked Fraser what he thought.
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“I said, ‘well, I don’t agree because everything was critical of the police. The person we have to blame is the driver of the car.
JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON / Stuff
Owen Fraser’s husband, Kenneth McCaul, was killed in a car accident when a driver fled the police. He is depicted with his dog, Miss Scarlett.
“If you can’t stop, it’s all on your shoulders … not the police. The police are just doing their job. You can’t let someone go like this, you can’t let them go crazy around town.”
October 22 marks the first anniversary since McCaul was killed at the intersection of Idris and Glandovey roads in Christchurch while driving to get a park in front of Christchurch Hospital before his turn as a phlebotomist.
Supplied
Fraser, left, with McCaul, on their wedding day.
Fraser remembers getting the call from the hospital to tell him there had been a “horrible accident” and asked him to get there as soon as possible.
When he arrived, he went to see one of McCaul’s bosses to tell him that there had been an accident. Then he went with Fraser to the emergency department.
“When we arrived there was a policeman and a lady from the emergency department waiting for us, and they took us to the small room and told us that he had passed away.”
Chris Skelton / Stuff
McCaul’s car was wrecked by a fleeing driver at the intersection of Glandovey Rd and Idris Rd.
Fraser has done his best to keep busy for the last year with gardening, painting the exterior of the house, and making photo albums.
“Otherwise, I would be sitting thinking all the time.”
He described McCaul as “outgoing” and said he always kept his word.
“Every second word he said started with f. The team he worked with loved him, and the patients liked him a lot too.”
JOSEPH JOHNSON / THINGS
Fraser carries her husband’s coffin at his funeral.
Fraser received about 150 condolence cards after McCaul’s death, about half of which came from people who had had blood tests done.
He plans to visit some of McCaul’s former colleagues next Thursday for the first anniversary, to see some works of art and a plaque installed in the hospital in honor of him before going out to dinner with friends.
“I’ll keep busy that day,” he said.
As for his message to young drivers when they see the flashing lights behind them, Fraser kept it brief.
“Think before acting.
“I can tell you that it is much easier to stop and just get a ticket than to be jailed.”
