KEY POINTS:
The father of a 9-year-old boy mown down in a hit-and-run crash says the driver did it deliberately.
He said it was in retaliation for an incident in which the boy's friend had been cheeky to the driver's son.
Tawhiri Moka is in the Starship hospital's intensive care unit in a serious but stable condition after being dragged about 15m underneath a white Mitsubishi Pajero as it smashed through a fence near his home at 4pm on Wednesday.
He has black rubber-tyre marks across his chest and arms.
His injuries include a split liver, a heavily bruised lung, a broken leg, and ligament damage to his neck and back.
Police have urged the Pajero driver to give himself up, saying they will find him eventually.
Tawhiri's father, Jerry Moka, told the Herald that when his son regained consciousness yesterday morning, he told his family he was running from the Pajero and that he believed its driver had targeted him.
Mr Moka said Tawhiri was on the footpath on his way home to Manurewa after walking a friend to another house when he was mown down on Shifnal Drive.
Tawhiri said the friend he was walking with had been "cheeky" to another boy minutes before the crash.
"He'd seen the truck coming and he went to run," Mr Moka said.
"He reckons that the guy was chasing him with the truck because one of his friends got cheeky to this other boy.
"They reckon he told his dad and they came following up in the truck."
Mr Moka was teaching Tawhiri's 5-year-old brother to ride his new bike about 4m away in the family's driveway when the truck came towards them at speed.
"I saw it flying and wiping out those fence posts like nothing."
He grabbed his youngest son and the pair leaped away as the truck flew past them, facing backwards, and stopped at his letterbox before being driven off.
Mr Moka found Tawhiri lying unconscious and bleeding among smashed wooden fencing.
"When I saw that truck coming through those fences I don't know how the hell he could still be alive," Mr Moka said.
Tawhiri's shoes were found about 15m away, indicating he was hit and dragged by the Pajero.
Tawhiri's mother, his older brother, 11, and sister, 7, ran out of their home when they heard the noise, and were horrified by what they saw.
"They're pretty freaked out at the moment," said Mr Moka.
He said one man ran from the Pajero and the other drove it away.
The neighbour whose 10m fence was smashed in the crash, Kenneth Provan, said he heard the crash and came rushing outside before running back inside to call 111.
"I just heard the crunch and I came out and I thought a girl had hit my car," he said.
"I saw somebody lying down and the man came running out screaming that it was his son.
"Everybody came out screaming and shouting ... [Tawhiri] was in and out of consciousness ... They were devastated."
Mr Provan said Tawhiri was a "nice little boy".
He said the driver of the Pajero was a Maori or Pacific Islander and fled the scene, leaving skid marks on a grass verge.
Police found the vehicle several streets away, not far from its owner's home.
The vehicle was not stolen, and police believe they know who was driving it. But last night, they had not found the driver.
Serious Crash Unit investigator Constable Steve Carey said police were looking into the allegations that the crash was deliberate.
Mr Carey said it was cowardly for the man to hit the boy then flee.
He urged the man to hand himself in as he would be found eventually.
"Hand yourself in, face up to what you have done and let's deal with it - it's not going to go away.
"We know who you are, we know where you live, and it will just be a question of time before we get hold of you."
