Four firefighters ran out to where an elderly woman was lying on the road and started carrying out first aid, he said.
"We just did the best we could for the lady.''
McQuillan said the truck driver remained at the scene as St John paramedics also arrived to help treat the woman.
"He was pretty upset,'' McQuillan said.
A photograph taken by a member of the public and sent to the newspaper shows paramedics tending to a person on the ground.
Just to the side, on the footpath, a man and woman can be seen talking to each other as another man is crouching against a power pole with his head in his arms.
McQuillan said they did not know the circumstances of the collision, but acknowledged that they had been surprised to learn a pedestrian had been hit.
In the past, they had been called to bumper to bumper crashes just outside their station or other areas nearby.
"It was not a good start to the morning,'' he said.
As a result of the crash, Onehunga Mall has been closed between Trafalgar St and Mt Smart Rd.
The Serious Crash Unit was also at the scene.
