Seven-year-old boy in stable condition after gate incident in South Auckland

Police at the scene at Auckland Botanic Gardens where a 7-year-old boy was crushed by a gate. Photo / Steven McNicholl

A seven-year-old boy whose head got stuck in an electric gate near Auckland's Botanic Gardens yesterday is in a stable condition in intensive care.

Emergency services were called to a house on Katote Close in Manurewa just before 3pm.

Police say the boy was playing on the gate when a car arrived and hit the sensor, causing the gate to open.

Eyewitness Sean Meads, 20, was visiting the gardens with his two young half-brothers when he heard screams.

"His head was stuck between an electric gate and a concrete wall," he said.

Detective Gareth Brown at the Harry Beaumont Entrance to the Auckland Botanic Gardens where a 7-year-old boy was crushed by a gate. Photo / Steven McNicholl

About eight members of the public desperately tried to pull the gate back but it took about five minutes before they could free him.

"When we got him out he fell ...."

The boy was not conscious and had a large injury to his head.

A woman thought to be his mother was weeping hysterically.

Meads said it was a traumatic incident to witness.

He's recovering in Middlemore Hospital.

A police spokeswoman said WorkSafe would be leading an investigating into what happened.

Detective Gareth Brown said the boy's family was being supported at Middlemore Hospital.

"The boy has been playing on the gate when a car has come up and hit the sensor and the gate has opened.

"Unfortunately, the boy has been crushed,'' Brown said.

Police are helping the family, but there were language barriers, he said.

-additional reporting from Newstalk ZB's Natasha Jojoa Burling