Man who confronts boy-racers on Karioitahi Beach is run over

A man was sent flying over a car bonnet after confronting boy-racers on an Auckland beach at the weekend.

In dramatic footage posted to Facebook - since taken down - the man can be seen approaching a white car, one of two doing burnouts and skids on Karioitahi Beach at about 2pm on Sunday.

The beach was relatively busy, with people - including children enjoying a fun day - nearby.

A man in a four-wheel-drive ute can be seen approaching the vehicles - a Mazda and a Mitsubishi - before a man in a blue shirt walks towards the cars with a pole, in what appears to be an attempt to stop the boy-racers.

However, instead of stopping, one of the cars ploughs into the man, sending him toppling over the bonnet and onto the windshield. He is carried a few metres down the beach before the car stops.

The man in the blue shirt is able to stand up, and appears to confront the driver. But the driver picks up the pole, before getting back into this car and taking off - pursued by the man in the four-wheel-drive.

Davey Kaumavae filmed the confrontation after watching the drivers doing skids on the beach.

"We had a family fun day and after about 10 minutes of being there I saw three or four boy-racers coming down the hill," he told the Herald.

Watching on, he filmed the man being struck by one of the vehicles.

"Afterward we walked up to see him and if he was all right. There was a lot of blood," Kaumavae added.

Alex Dawson had been at the beach with family and friends and said the boy-racers were very close to hitting people and other cars.

His child was playing with friends - two under the age of 10 - in the water near where the Mazda skidded.

"They were sliding around nearly hitting vehicles and they came extremely close to a couple sitting in front of a car in front of where we were."

"The video doesn't show you how close they actually were."

Dawson told the Herald that people had tried to stop them before what is seen on the video.

"Before they got to where we were there were actually people trying to stop them up at the creek in the entry.

"Apparently there was a few incidents that were going up in Waiuku before with the same car," he said.

The video was posted to Facebook where a witness, who said he was also on the beach watching, said the altercation was seen by a number of people.

"They all whipped out their phones and started recording and was all enjoying the show [sic]," he said.

"Out of nowhere a man ran in front of the vehicle with a metal pole deliberately trying to smash the car."

He claimed the pole went through the window and nearly hit the driver. He believed the driver was going to park before being chased away by the ute driver.

Another video shows the ute chasing the Mazda driver out of the carpark in an attempt to stop the man, before returning to the beach.

Police said inquiries are ongoing.