Police were warned fight was brewing

An hour before a man was critically beaten in an Auckland park yesterday residents rang police to warn them a fight was brewing. But no police units were available.

The man suffered life-threatening head injuries and was rushed to Auckland City Hospital, where early today he was in a critical but stable condition.

The assault happened about 3pm at Dunkirk Reserve in Panmure where a group of up to 13 people, mostly men in their late 20s to early 30s, had spent the morning drinking.

Wayne Tye, who lives across the road from the reserve, said the group arrived about 11am and spent the whole morning drinking around a park bench.

When Mr Tye heard a commotion about 3pm he thought the group were still "partying". But in fact a fight had broken out.

Another resident, who did not want to be named, said he called police about 2pm to warn them about the drunken group.

Inspector Gavin MacDonald, from the police northern communications centre, said all patrol cars were tied up with other jobs.

The resident was asked to monitor the situation and call back if it became violent.

By 3pm, as a fight broke out between two men, the resident was on the phone again.

"At first it was just pushing and shoving, then they just starting hitting each other. Then the boots went in," he said.

The resident said the victim appeared to be too drunk to defend himself and fell to the ground.

A third man then joined the attacker in kicking the victim and stomping on his head with their boots. "The rest of the group all sat at the table and watched."

The resident said the two men then went back to the park bench and resumed drinking.

Some people from the group eventually picked up the unconscious victim and put him in the back of a car parked nearby.

Last night that car was still at the scene, cordoned off with the section of park where the assault occurred. Beer bottles were strewn on the grass.

Police were talking to nine intoxicated men about the incident. Officers said it was too early to say if charges would be laid.

Mr MacDonald said police received a lot of calls about young people drinking and "yahooing". The calls had to be prioritised and in this case the situation seemed to be calming down as police spoke to the resident during the first call.

In April, an error at the communications centre meant police never arrived at a fight in Mt Roskill.

Ninety minutes after that fight, a second one broke out and a 23-year-old man was nearly beaten to death.

The officer handling that case said the second fight would probably have still occurred, regardless of whether police had attended the first one.