{"id":618868,"date":"2026-10-02T22:42:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T22:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/618868\/"},"modified":"2026-10-02T22:42:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T22:42:15","slug":"im-good-im-safe-officer-struck-by-fleeing-vehicle-walking-talking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/618868\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;I&#8217;m good, I&#8217;m safe&#8217;: Officer struck by fleeing vehicle walking, talking"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  [&amp;_p]:tit-sub-xl tit-sub-xl md:[&amp;_p]:d-tit-sub-xl md:d-tit-sub-xl mb-[1.3rem]\">A police officer critically injured <a href=\"https:\/\/www.1news.co.nz\/2026\/09\/08\/head-injury-recovery-could-take-time-for-cop-hit-by-fleeing-driver\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">after being struck by a fleeing vehicle<\/a> near Palmerston North in August is now walking and talking, police say. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">The officer was laying road spikes on Kairanga Bunnythorpe Rd at around 2am on August 22 when he was struck by the vehicle and thrown several metres. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">He was airlifted to Wellington Hospital in a critical condition, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.1news.co.nz\/2026\/08\/22\/officer-on-ventilator-after-being-hit-by-teens-in-allegedly-stolen-car\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">placed on a ventilator<\/a> and treated for a traumatic head injury.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Two teenagers, aged 14 and 15, were charged following the incident.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">In an update today, Central District Commander Superintendent Dion Bennett said the officer&#8217;s condition had &#8220;substantially improved&#8221;. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">&#8220;His general health is good and his injuries are healing. He\u2019s walking, albeit a little unsteady, and he\u2019s talking,&#8221; Bennett said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-greyDarkFaded\">The officer was laying road spikes near Palmerston North when the vehicle, allegedly stolen and carrying two teens, struck him and another officer. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Bennett said indications were the officer would need another three to six months of recovery, with his family remaining &#8220;steadfastly at his bedside&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">&#8220;He mentioned to me that he greatly appreciates the interest and support from his Police colleagues and the wider community, and he asked me to pass on a message: &#8216;It\u2019s alright, I\u2019m good, I\u2019m safe. Thank you&#8217;.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">The Palmerston North-based officer was previously described as a young father with a toddler, who graduated from Police College in December 2024.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">In the days following the incident, Bennett said he was a &#8220;fantastic young man&#8221; and a &#8220;good bloke&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">&#8220;He&#8217;s the type of person that you want to sit down and have a conversation with,&#8221; he said at the time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">The two teenagers charged over the incident had automatic name suppression due to their age. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">The 15-year-old was charged with wounding with reckless disregard and reckless driving causing injury. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">The pair were due to reappear in the Palmerston North Youth Court this month. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A police officer critically injured after being struck by a fleeing vehicle near Palmerston North in August is&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":618869,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[67,31044,111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-618868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-crime-and-justice","tag-manawatu-wanganui","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=618868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/618869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}