A Chinese woman with no family in New Zealand was fighting for her life last night and a police officer was due to have surgery after an accident on the North Shore in which a motorist crashed a vehicle into a stopped patrol car.
The crash occurred just before 11.15pm
on Saturday near the Tristram Ave exit of the Northern Motorway.
The driver of the highway patrol car had pulled a motorist over and had parked the vehicle off the carriageway with its lights flashing.
A southbound silver Toyota approached the parked vehicle, with a red Subaru following behind.
Sergeant Stu Kearns from the serious crash unit said it appeared the Toyota slowed coming up to the police car, causing the Subaru to rear-end it. The Toyota then spun out of control and a female passenger was flung from the vehicle.
She suffered serious head injuries and was in a critical, unstable condition in Auckland City Hospital last night.
The Subaru slid across the left lane on to the safety shoulder and hit the police car before rolling onto its side.
Mr Kearns said it was fortunate the officers involved were sitting inside the vehicle.
"At least they had some protection. Had they been near their vehicle they could have been run down," he said yesterday.
He understood the female officer was awaiting surgery in Auckland City Hospital and that her male colleague had been discharged.
Mr Kearns said it was too early to say if drugs or alcohol were involved in the crash.
