Up to five pedestrians are understood to be injured following an incident on Auckland's Symonds St. Video / Michael Craig
Alcohol and drugs are suspected as a factor after five people were injured – one critically – when a car mounted the footpath, hitting pedestrians and trees outside Auckland University today.
People dived out of the way as the vehicle drove along the busy Symonds St footpath before coming to a stop when it crashed into a tree.
A witness told the Herald a car drove down Symonds St in central Auckland going about 50km/h. The speed limit for the area is 30km/h.
“Lots of students jumped out of the way but some got hit bad.”
Emergency services were called just after midday. Photo / Michael Craig
A video taken moments after the incident showed a large group of people along with multiple police cars and a fire truck.
Another witness told the Herald the car travelled on the footpath for approximately 20m before it attempted to go up the berm.
The witness claimed it was then the car hit a group of people before smashing into the tree.
Fire crews could be seen attempting to extract the car from the berm.
Ambulance staff appear to be speaking to someone trapped in the vehicle.
The University of Auckland told the Herald it was aware of “an incident involving pedestrian/s and we are just finding out the details”, and referred further inquiries to police.
One bystander told the Herald they’d heard the car mounted the kerb and sideswiped a tree before it proceeded onto the footpath.
“[The driver] tried to turn back on to the road at the lights but couldn’t and smashed into the tree.”
