KEY POINTS:
A devastated 22-year-old Chinese student, whose father died after being struck by a bus metres from his flat, does not believe the driver's claim he was unaware the accident had happened.
Rongfa Jiang, 53, died in hospital on Wednesday. He was hit by a Stagecoach bus near Auckland's Dominion Rd and St Albans Ave intersection, during morning peak traffic.
The 44-year-old bus driver is said to have stopped a short distance past the scene, got out and looked back towards the injured man, before getting back in the bus and driving on. He has told police he was unaware the accident had even occurred.
Those claims have been met with disbelief from those who knew Jiang. Yesterday, his grieving son, River Jiang, told the Herald on Sunday that while he had at first felt sadness for the driver, he now felt anger.
"I know he didn't mean to do it. I do believe that he stopped, but I don't believe he didn't see anything. I think he must have seen something. It's so close."
The driver's claims were adding to his grief, he said.
He and his flatmate's mother were yesterday conducting a traditional Chinese grieving ritual at the accident scene, which is just outside the flat he shares with six others.
The Auckland University student said he had been working the late shift at McDonald's on Tuesday, so he was still asleep when his dad, who had been staying with him for a few months' holiday, was struck by the bus, around 7.30am on Wednesday.
Witnesses had rushed to help, said Jiang. One woman had placed her jersey under his father's head, which was injured badly.
It was not clear whether his father had been standing on the foothpath, or just off it, when the bus struck. Witnesses said it appeared to strike the man's face. One of his shoes had ended up about 15 metres down the road.
Several large trees had been removed from the roadside near the scene the day before. Part of the foothpath had also been dug up, leaving loose gravel. Eyewitness Ed Muir believed this could have contributed to the accident, causing Rongfa Jiang to slip. "It would have been like being in a different neighbourhood that day, quite bewildering. They were huge, dense trees, and he had rocks to walk on rather than tarseal."
River Jiang dismissed that claim as "impossible". He said the trees were well back from the kerb. He described his father's death as a terrible accident, but struggled to talk further about him.
River Jiang said he wished to stay in Auckland to finish his science degree. His mother is expected to arrive from China tomorrow.
One of Jiang's flatmates, Rocky Peng, 22, described Jiang senior as a "very nice man" who was always very friendly and loved talking to people. He had been planning to stay with his son until June or July.
Meanwhile, Auckland Tramways Union president Gary Froggatt has said the bus driver was "extremely upset" and was on stress leave.
The driver, who had held a heavy traffic licence since 2001, was "quiet and unassuming", with an "absolutely clean record".
The accident occurred on New Zealand's busiest bus route - Stagecoach carries more than 50,000 people along Dominion Rd every week.
