A man battling serious health problems unwittingly saved the life of a badly bashed man because he did not want to be guilty of the "bystander effect".
David Batchelor, who had recently been diagnosed with cancer, was sitting in his car on Central Rd in Kingsland in November after attending an open mic night when he witnessed a brutal assault.
He picked the victim up off the road and drove him to Auckland City Hospital's emergency department, which police say saved his life. Unbeknown to Mr Batchelor at the time, the victim had a near-fatal break to his neck and any movement could have killed or paralysed him.
At the time Mr Batchelor, a 22-year-old master's degree student, did not think much of his efforts and only realised how serious the situation he had intervened in was when police released a photograph of him from hospital security footage and appealed for him to come forward.
He spoke to the Herald this week, between his own hospital appointments, about the night of the assault.