Blood, broken bikes and a dead dog: Inside Epsom’s eight minutes of mayhem

The injured had been whisked to hospital, the banged-up cars and broken bikes hauled away, and the cordons that turned a busy city transport link silent were no more. 

Hours earlier, eight minutes of chaos had unfolded along a 500m stretch of arterial road at the start of an ordinary Wednesday workday. Several people were injured – including a critically hurt schoolboy cyclist – a dog was killed, vehicles and bicycles were damaged, and a half-naked man was taken into police custody. 

But by noon all that remained on Manukau Rd in Epsom from the morning mayhem were crime scene chalk marks and memories much harder to erase. 

It was a chilly 6C and 10 minutes until the first rays of sunlight would flood across Hauraki Gulf to the skinny little isthmus so many call home. 

At the intersection of Ranfurly and Manukau Rds in Epsom, an upmarket central Auckland suburb better known for its double Grammar zone addresses, a man was screaming. 

Inside Forbes Homemade Gourmet cafe on Ranfurly Rd, a worker saw a man “walking backwards and forwards across the road”. 

“He started screaming in the [Marivare Reserve] park, so I called police.” 

A former cop taking his son to hospital also spotted the man at the intersection of Ranfurly and Manukau Rds. 

The man attacked a food service truck parked outside a local cafe but it drove away, the former cop said. 

His attention then allegedly turned to vehicles waiting at the intersection. 

“He smashed one pretty good with his arm and the person drove off,” the ex-cop said. 

Worse was to come. 

Epsom man Mark was driving home after taking his son to the gym when he spotted a man and a jogger in a physical altercation across the same intersection just after 7am. 

It was clear the woman was in “trouble”, so Mark got out of his car. 

As others yelled at the man, Mark says he urged him to “just sit down, relax, let her go”. 

The woman was on her normal morning run when she passed the man, she later told the Herald. 

“He got me from behind,” she claimed. 

But she said years of kickboxing training allowed her to defend herself against the man, who was much larger and stronger than her. 

She said she needed stitches and had bruises to her head, face and upper body. 

She was the first victim in a rampage that had just begun. 

The Wednesday morning drama began at the intersection of Ranfurly and Manukau Rds in Epsom. Photo / Jason Dorday 

A woman who pulled over to help the injured jogger would be next. 

Her act of community-mindedness came at a cost, with the man allegedly stealing her Toyota RAV4, with stunned onlookers watching as two more cars were damaged as the green SUV headed south on Manukau Rd. 

Auckland City District Commander Superintendent Sunny Patel alleged the man hit the first vehicle by veering into it, causing that vehicle to crash into another. 

Some 250m away, five teenage cyclists wearing helmets and high-visibility tops were nearing Cornwall Park during a training ride. 

Police allege the RAV4 then struck the group from behind, with a witness describing one “flying over the top of the car” before landing head-first on the pavement. 

Sunny Patel said CCTV footage appeared to show the vehicle veering towards the cyclists before they were struck. 

Footage from neighbouring Cornwall Park Motor Inn’s CCTV showed the frantic scene after the teens were hit. 

Within seconds, motorists ran from their cars to help the injured. One passerby removed some of her own clothing and gently placed it over a boy lying motionless on the ground. 

Injured cyclists are attended to by paramedics and comforted by other bystanders at the scene of a major incident in the Auckland suburb of Epsom on Wednesday. 

The teen was unresponsive after the crash, a witness told the Herald. 

“I jumped out of my car … but the group of cyclists were crowded around saying they could handle this.” 

Hato Hone St John was called at 7.07am, sending four ambulances, two rapid response vehicles and an operations manager, a spokesperson said. 

Two of the cyclists were treated at the scene, but three – one each in moderate, serious and critical conditions – were taken by ambulance to Auckland City Hospital, the spokesperson said. 

Five schoolboy cyclists were injured during Wednesday's series of serious incidents on Manukau Rd, Epsom. One remained in a critical condition in Auckland City Hospital on Friday. Photo / Michael Craig 

Auckland Grammar School headmaster Tim O’Connor soon confirmed the injured teens, their parents now by their hospital bedsides, were students at the school. 

“Our thoughts are with the boys and families affected.” 

Later, after police had removed the mangled and broken bikes from a scene amid streaks of blood and abandoned medical equipment, Sunny Patel spoke of the impact on the teens just out “doing something they enjoyed”. 

Two of the injured boys have been discharged from hospital while the third remained in a critical condition yesterday afternoon. 

“This will be a life-altering event.” 

As passers-by rushed to help the injured cyclists, 250m south on Manukau Rd commuters were arriving for their morning coffee and fuel at Tasman Epsom petrol station. 

Station worker Manthan Patel had heard sounds to the north before a “totally damaged” car swerved into the station – a huge dent in its bonnet, windscreen shattered and wipers askew. 

His first thought was there had been a crash nearby. 

But the man then got out of the vehicle and allegedly jumped into a nearby car in an attempt to steal it. 

Manthan Patel later said a woman was filling her vehicle when it was hit, but she moved out of the way unharmed. 

He said he saw the man attempt unsuccessfully to take two vehicles. 

“The woman [who owned one of vehicles] ran into the store and I locked the doors and called the police.” 

A green RAV4 pictured being examined by police at Tasman Epsom petrol station. Photo / Michael Craig 

Outside, Andre Lipa had pulled into the petrol station when he heard a man “screaming and shouting” at staff. 

The man could be seen wielding a large road cone before running across Manukau Rd towards Greenlane, Lipa said. 

With police cars coming, the man began sprinting down the footpath towards a woman walking two small dogs on leads. 

Lipa filmed from across the road as the man grabbed and fatally attacked one of the dogs. 

By then three police officers had arrived, with one getting behind the man and tasering him. 

“He went down with the taser.” 

His video showed multiple officers and a person Lipa said was a worker from the petrol station trying to restrain the man before he was taken into custody. 

“I was okay because I was sitting in the car. I thought, s***, well, you know, this might be important to get a record of this. So I just started filming. 

“I do feel a bit shaky now just thinking back because he was a big guy.” 

The intersection of Ranfurly and Manukau Rds in Epsom where there was mayhem on Wednesday morning. Photo / Jason Dorday 

Eight minutes had passed since police received the first call to a report of a serious assault at the intersection of Ranfurly and Manukau Rds. 

Beyond the mayhem on Manukau Rd, roads had turned to carparks as diverted motorists and rerouted buses snarled up thousands of commuters. 

Few knew what was going on, with one Epsom resident telling the Herald about 8am there was “hella cop cars and stuff”. 

“I imagine something serious [is happening] because shutting this road is a big deal and it has made the traffic in the area crazy.” 

At 8.02am police confirmed a “serious incident” had occurred in Epsom, but “the public can be reassured one person is in custody”. 

Multiple vehicles were damaged, including this hatchback, which lost its driver's side headlight and bumper. Photo / Michael Craig 

Cordons remained on Manukau Rd between Ranfurly Rd and Queen Mary Ave, and Campbell Crescent was also closed to Puriri Drive, a police spokesperson said. 

By 11am, police had confirmed six incidents “in full view of the public going about their morning commute”, Acting Detective Inspector Craig Bolton said. 

The dog “subjected to a violent assault” had “sadly died at the scene”, said Bolton, of Auckland City CIB. 

“We acknowledge it has impacted many innocent people who were just going about their mornings,” Bolton said. 

“This was an incredibly violent event which has unfolded very quickly.” 

Police weren’t aware of anything that sparked the violence, Sunny Patel would tell media that afternoon. 

The arrested man, a 49-year-old, was known to police. 

The man’s movements before the first alleged attack weren’t known, Sunny Patel said. 

“[This incident was] extremely violent and unnecessary.” 

Auckland City District Commander Superintendent Sunny Patel speaks to media after Wednesday's serious incident in Epsom. Photo / Michael Craig 

Seventeen charges have been laid against the man. The most serious were two charges of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm, relating to the jogger and one of the cyclists. Each carries a maximum sentence of 14 years. 

Other charges related to injuries suffered by the two other cyclists, the alleged unlawful taking of the Toyota RAV4, assaults involving a vehicle, the death of the dog and alleged attempts to take another vehicle. 

The man remained in Auckland City Hospital under guard and wasn’t at his first court hearing in Auckland District Court on Thursday. Judge Grant Fraser remanded him in custody, should he be released from hospital, until his next appearance on Monday. 

He was granted interim name suppression. Defence lawyer Jane-Frances O’Halloran told the court she had not yet been able to take instructions from him. 

Epsom MP David Seymour (second right) told media his thoughts were with the injured after Wednesday's major incident. Photo / Sylvie Whinray 

The streets where Wednesday’s events unfolded are familiar to David Seymour. 

Until recently, the longtime Epsom MP lived 400m from where they unfolded. 

He was grateful for police responding “very rapidly” after members of the public alerted them to the man. 

“Thankfully, that meant that they got there faster than they would have.” 

He hadn’t spoken to the families of the injured cyclists, but “our wishes are with them”, the Grammar old boy said. 

“The only thing that matters right now is those boys get better.” 

He’d visited the affected businesses and spoken with some directly affected, but it was important only one person was alleged to be involved in the incident, and the accused was in custody, Seymour said. 

A local business leader told the Herald they, too, wanted to reassure the community. 

They’d work to ensure the neighbourhood “remains a safe and welcoming environment for all”, Greenwoods Corner Epsom Business Association president Dominique Bonn said. 

“Epsom is a place built on connection, resilience and care for one another,” Bonn said, praising the response of first responders and “the courage of bystanders … during this distressing event”. 

The support of the community is getting those caught in Wednesday’s horror through the trauma it left, Manthan Patel said. 

Manthan Patel was working at Tasman Epsom petrol station. The incident has left him struggling to sleep. Photo / Jason Dorday 

The Tasman Epsom worker was back at the pumps on Thursday, pushing through the fatigue from a night where he “couldn’t sleep”. 

“Because once I close my eyes I can literally see that incident [where] he grabbed the dog. It’s really hard for me.” 

But his customers helped. 

“Everyone was afraid but today we got good support from the community. People are coming here, and they [ask] what’s happened, and if you’re safe. 

“I explain, for now, it’s all good.”