A mother clutched her 13-month-old son and screamed, "My baby, my baby," after the child was killed by a car in a driveway accident at Kaitaia.
Paramedics could not revive the toddler when they reached the distraught woman outside her home in Jamieson Rd about 5.30pm on Friday.
The police said no further details would be released until next of kin were informed, but reminded the public of the dangers of moving vehicles when young children were nearby.
Neighbour Sally Notton was watching television in her lounge when she heard screaming drown out the sound of children playing on the street.
When she went outside she saw a woman cradling the body of a little boy and screaming hysterically.
"At first I thought it must have been one of [the children] being silly. But then when I joined others making a beeline for the mother the kids were yelling, 'Baby got run over'.
"She [the mother] was holding the baby, she wouldn't let him go ... She was just screaming, 'My baby, my baby'."
Mrs Notton returned home to tell her 40-year-old daughter Greta to phone for an ambulance.
When she went back to the street the mother - still holding her son - was surrounded by other neighbours.
"I just saw [the mother] sitting down by the front left-hand side of the wheel, holding her baby. So somebody rushed and got a blanket to put over baby."
Mrs Notton said she she was unsure of who had been driving the car that hit the child.
Police had arrived soon after an ambulance and cordoned off the scene of the incident.
The boy's father could not be reached by telephone, so a neighbour had gone to get him from his work.
The boy was the youngest of the family's three children, and the mother would often walk him and another sibling around the street after dropping her daughter at school, Mrs Notton said.
She said yesterday she was still in shock.
"I just feel so sorry for them. It was such an awful accident."
The death comes after a Safekids campaign was launched at the end of last year in a bid to try and reduce death and injuries to children in driveways.
Director Ann Weaver said a child was admitted to hospital every two weeks with serious injuries received from a vehicle in a private driveway in New Zealand - and five or six were killed each year.
The Safekids website says the typical profile of children injured in driveway incidents is that they are toddlers aged about 2. The driver was usually a close family member.
Plunket Society community services leader May Seager, who uses the kit in Northland, said it was designed to raise awareness of the dangers of driveway runovers and would be displayed at a People in the Park event in Whangarei on Sunday.
"The kit consists of a mat and three life-sized dolls the size of children, which we place behind a vehicle," she said.
"We then invite people to sit in the driver's seat and look behind. They are amazed at how little they can see."
Mrs Seager, whose cousin had lost her child in a driveway accident about two years ago, said she felt for the Kaitaia family.
"It's a horrible thing to happen to anyone ... all we can do is try to make sure it doesn't happen again."
Friday's tragedy was the second driveway fatality this year.
On January 24, David Taliai, 3, was killed when he was hit in a driveway alongside a block of shops in Manurewa.
Safety tips
Always "count the kids" before you manoeuvre a vehicle, and make sure they are belted safely in the car or are in a safe place away from the car.
Slow down on driveways.
Know how big the blind area is around your vehicle; your line of sight may be less than you think.
Supervise children but also have other ways to keep them safe, such as a fenced-off play area or a childproof doorway gate.
Teach children to be cautious around vehicles.
Encourage visitors to park on the road outside of your house instead of in the driveway.
- Source: Child and Youth Mortality Review Committee