Missile hits bus passenger in head

Police talk to the woman (in white scarf) who was hit in the head by an object hurled through the bus window. Photo / Sarah Ivey

A bus passenger was taken to hospital last night after she was hit in the head by an object thrown through the bus window.

Bystanders said an 11- or 12-year-old boy threw the object in Johnstones Rd, Otara, just before 6pm, smashing a fist-sized hole in the window.

Ambulance officers who helped the woman from the bus said she was not badly hurt but was being taken to Middlemore Hospital for observation.

The incident came four days after three youths punched bus driver Sudeep Singh in the head and ran off with his cashbox while his bus was stopped in Otara Rd.

A Johnstones Rd resident, Hana Loia, said children had been throwing things at buses in the street almost every day for about three months but last night was the first time someone had been hurt.

Moeaki Tauifua, 10, said the children usually threw branches broken off from trees across the road, but last night he saw the boy throw what he thought was a brick.

"I was just over there playing with my bike and I saw them all over here so I came," he said.

Senior Sergeant Emiel Logan of Manukau said police had spoken to an 11-year-old boy, who has been referred to Police Youth Aid.

NZ Bus spokeswoman Megan McSweeney said another passenger was unhurt but was taken home by bus company staff. About 15 others were transferred to another bus.

"This was a mindless act that was potentially very dangerous," she said.

Auckland Tramways Union president Gary Froggatt said this week there had been a spate of attacks on buses in South Auckland recently, smashing windows and causing other damage.