A Hawke's Bay police constable bashed on duty this week says he was thinking of a colleague who suffered serious head injuries in a similar attack last year when he went down.
Clive community Constable Alan Daly has met the local who came to his aid and revealed he thought of Napier Detective Sergeant Dan Foley, who received head injuries after being bashed in Mahora last year, during the attack on Tuesday.
"When they stomped on my head I was thinking about Dan Foley and that damage that was done to him. Once they kicked me in the head I knew they'd done some damage."
Daly has met and thanked Robin Oliver, the man who came to his aid.
"You're a hero, mate, for turning up like that," he said.
Oliver visited Daly at home on Friday and swapped accounts of the attack.
The police officer was hit from behind, stomped in the face and bashed with his own radio after stopping a car on Elizabeth St in Clive. Oliver witnessed the attack and tried to pull the offenders off him, shortly before another officer arrived.
He said he "just did something that naturally you would have done".
"Afterwards I did think what would have happened if it had gone differently."
Lance Christopher Pirini, 31, from Mt Roskill, and Joy Moana Leaf, 30, of Onehunga, appeared in the Hastings District Court on Wednesday charged with causing grievous bodily harm and other charges related to a stolen vehicle and shoplifting.
The pair were remanded in custody to reappear on September 29.
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