Teen girl tried to stop cop attack

A fifteen-year-old schoolgirl tried to fend off the group of teenagers who viciously bashed a South Auckland police officer.

She was eventually able to drag the officer, identified yesterday as John Connolly, to safety - but not before the 49-year-old was beaten unconscious.

Connolly had stepped in to break up an altercation on Elizabeth St in Tuakau, near Pukekohe.

He had been walking his dog, a german shepherd named Sam, when he came across two groups of teens about to have a fight.

The father-of-one quickly took Sam home - about 30m away - and returned to stop the fight.

It was then he was set upon by a group of youths who inflicted serious injuries including multiple fractures to his face, a broken jaw, broken ankle, collapsed lung, and missing teeth.

Connolly was rushed to Middlemore Hospital and put in an induced coma. He was in and out of consciousness yesterday but was communicating with hospital staff. His condition was serious but stable.

A 15-year-old girl who did not want to be named told the Herald on Sunday Connolly tried to stop a fight between two groups of girls.

She said her cousin was being threatened to fight by a girl at Tuakau College.

She and three others went to the school at the end of Elizabeth St to find the girl.

But as they left, things turned nasty.

"A group of about 50 people came up to us and started asking for fights. Then the cop came up and told us to break it up," she said.

When Connolly came back from dropping the dog off, he tried to hold the girls away from each other, the 15-year-old said.

"Then they just ended up gang-bashing him. I was trying to fend them off. Me and my cousin and my sister tried to pull everyone off him. It all happened so quick ... then they took off and left him lying in the middle of the road.

"Me and another boy lifted him off the road on to the footpath. My sister called the police. He had a bleeding lip and a fractured head. He was knocked out for a while, coma'd on the ground."

The 15-year-old said most of the group knew he was a cop.

"We were telling them he was a policeman ... but they didn't stop."

The 15-year-old said there were members of a local youth gang, known as the SCG, who were among the fighting crown.

The SCG, or South Crips Group, are believed to be a feeder gang to the local Black Power chapter.

Other teenagers who witnessed the brutal attack said both boys and girls were attacking Connolly.

"Everyone was just running in hitting him. He was knocked out and, at the end, some kids dragged him to the kerb. He had a purple face, it was really puffy," said one boy.

Connolly grew up in Cambridge, England and moved to New Zealand about seven years ago.

He trained as a police officer after he arrived here and was based at Mt Wellington before shifting to Papakura.

A source close to him, who did not want to be named, said his family lived in the UK. But the person said Connolly had a 3-year-old son named William with his ex-wife living in Tuakau.

Police last night had not charged anyone in relation to the attack but said they knew who the culprits were.

At least two teenagers spent most of the day inside the Pukekohe police station but Counties Manukau District Commander Superintendent Mike Bush would not be drawn on whether they were suspects or witnesses.

He said police had interviewed about half of the 30 witnesses they needed to.

"They will be made accountable for their actions," he said.

"This was an off-duty police officer who went to this incident to bring about some calm to what was obviously an aggressive incident.

"We're particularly concerned that groups of people can turn on members of the public who were there to do a good deed, regardless of whether they are an off-duty police officer or not."

Bush did not believe there was any gang involvement.

"We understand our off-duty officer was set upon by one person initially from behind, knocked to the ground and at that stage received a beating from more than one person, and including a number of kicks and possible stomps."

Residents told the Herald on Sunday the SCG had been involved in a number of recent street fights and violent incidents - one exactly a week before Connolly was attacked.

Residents on Jellicoe Ave, near Elizabeth St, said teenagers converged on their street chasing two people who appeared to be wearing red beanies late on Friday 12 February.

Another resident said some had axes and hammers had been used.

The two men who rushed to Connolly's aid did not want to speak about the attack publicly.

The pair also stepped in to break up the fight and carried Connolly into his house. They were not injured.

Bush commended the officer's bravery.

"I applaud the off-duty officer. I applaud the members of the community that went forward.

' If you are contemplating such a thing you must weigh up the risks before you step in.

"But if people do step in I applaud their bravery."