“Sadly, the male rider has sustained fatal injuries and died at the scene.”
The motorway’s southbound lanes were closed while the Serious Crash Unit investigated overnight.
The lanes reopened shortly before 5am.
Michelle Tollen-Stevens was heading home from a birthday dinner when she saw the motorcyclist speed past dangerously and weave in between traffic.
The motorcyclist got within half a metre of the police car when it shot past, she said.
Tollen-Stevens told the Herald she saw the bike wedged between two barriers and the body of the motorcyclist 5-10 metres down the road when she passed the crash scene.
“He’d obviously been flung off and had rolled over, and he was sort of lying next to the barrier as well.”
The incident was “shocking”, she said.
“I was like, ‘did I just see that? Like did I just see the a body?’ It was quite confronting. It wasn’t moving.
A witness at the scene this morning said traffic attenuator trucks had established a roadblock on the motorway, diverting all traffic off at East Tamaki. Vehicles already on the motorway were slowly turned around and escorted back to the Ōtara on-ramp.
A detective was seen taking a statement from a Greenstone TV camera operator who was filming with motorway patrol units for a new series of Motorway Patrol at the time of the incident. Nearby, another officer spoke with colleagues while holding a speed radar device.
A police photographer completed a walkthrough of the scene as the Serious Crash Unit began its investigation alongside NZTA staff.
A St John spokesperson said an ambulance and an operations manager vehicle were sent to the incident. All further enquiries were directed to the police.
An investigation is now underway into the fatal crash, and the Independent Police Conduct Authority will be notified of the incident, said Gray.
Formal identification procedures will be carried out, while support will be put in place for the man’s next of kin.
Support is being put in place for our officers who were working last night.
Further south, a cyclist has died in an early-morning crash on State Highway 2 in Dannevirke.
The cyclist was unable to be revived at the scene, and enquiries into the crash are now underway.
In Canterbury, an e-scooter rider was struck by an oncoming train overnight.
The collision, which occurred around 3.30am on Lincoln Rd in Addington, saw the Serious Crash Unit called out with road closures in place.
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