A teenager is dead after he lay down on an unlit South Canterbury rural road early today and was hit by a car.
The 16-year-old boy was lying on Rise Rd, near Milford Clandeboye Rd, near Temuka, about 4.30am, when he was struck by a Honda car driven by a 30-year-old local man, Sergeant Simon Heeley said.
The boy was lying in the lane the vehicle was driving on, he said.
Police believed they knew who the teenager was and the boy's parents had been notified, but no formal identification had taken place.
The driver of the vehicle, who had been on his way to pick up his sister from a 21st party, called police as soon as he realised he had hit someone, Mr Heeley said.
