Police are hunting for the driver of a stolen vehicle that struck and injured a police officer before fleeing in Auckland last night.
The stolen vehicle was spotted parked near Southmall in Manurewa at around 11.30pm on Tuesday.
Detective Inspector Karen Bright said two police units arrived on scene and signalled for the vehicle to remain stopped.
“As police approached the vehicle on foot , the vehicle fled, hitting a police constable and collided with a patrol vehicle.”
St John said one ambulance responded to the incident.
“One person was assessed at the scene and transported to Middlemore Hospital in a moderate condition.”
Bright said the officer had been discharged from hospital.
“The vehicle was later located abandoned in Manurewa. This vehicle will undergo an examination and enquiries are underway to locate the driver,” she said.
“Investigators will now be working to locate this individual, and we suggest doing the right thing and handing yourself in at the nearest police station.”
Anyone with relevant information should contact police on 105.
Police being rammed every second day
An internal police document released to 1News earlier this year revealed the number of intentional rammings of police staff and vehicles amounted to one every second day across the country.
Deputy Police Commissioner Tania Kura said offenders were more brazen than ever when fleeing police.
“People who’ve got stolen vehicles or evidence in their vehicle that they don’t want to be caught. Sometimes people actually just want to hurt us because we are police.”
Police Association president Chris Cahill said: “An officer a month is hospitalised because of an injury in a ramming — that’s not minor injuries — this is hospitalised.”
Nelson officer Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming was hit and killed by a vehicle on New Year’s Day. A trial date for the accused has been set for May 2026.