Cop stands for first time but can't speak after being hit by fleeing driver

A young police officer has been able to stand for the first time but still cannot talk a month after being hit by a fleeing vehicle near Palmerston North.

The officer was in a coma after being severely injured in the crash while laying road spikes to stop a car carrying two youths on Kairanga Bunnythorpe Rd on August 22.

The car crashed into the police vehicle he was standing behind, throwing him into another vehicle parked nearby. He was flown to Wellington Hospital for urgent care and recently moved to a traumatic head injury rehab facility, Central District Commander Superintendent Dion Bennett said.

“Some small progress has been made,” Bennett told the Herald on Friday. “He was able to stand assisted on Thursday, and that’s a really important step for him and for us.”

He said it was “so neat to hear” the officer had reached that milestone.

“He’s unable to speak, but he has responded to voice commands, which is a positive step. He undergoes rigorous physiotherapy and speech therapy, so these are small steps in what is an uncertain and long recovery, but also significant steps.”

The officer, who shares a toddler with his partner, has had his family by his bedside since the incident.

“The impact on his immediate family, his partner and his daughter, is significant and has altered the way that they’re living life. Similarly for his parents, who have been with his partner by his bedside from the outset, [it] has meant some significant changes.”

The man’s loved ones were considering whether they needed to move cities to continue supporting his care, Bennett said.

“His family have been amazing ... I can only imagine that the intensity of the last four or five weeks have been difficult for them to manage as a family.

Central District Commander Superintendent Dion Bennett says the young officer faces a long recovery.

“We don’t know what the future looks like, and I’m not sure the medical team are certain yet. What we do know is that this is a long recovery with intensive treatment and rehabilitation.”

Bennett said it was rare for police in New Zealand to be so badly injured in the line of duty, “but we have suffered them before, and we’ve lost staff to injuries like this or incidents like this previously”.

He said it had been a privilege to witness police as an organisation and the officer’s colleagues step in to support one another.

“There’s not one person in police who I couldn’t go to and ask for help and they wouldn’t drop what they’re doing to support the family in any way they could. His immediate colleagues have been fantastic, absolute professionals, and they’ve got on with the work that they need to do while at the same time caring for each other.”

Another officer who suffered minor injuries in the crash had recovered and was back at work with his team “doing really well”, Bennett said.

Two teenagers have been charged over the crash and are due to reappear in the Palmerston North Youth Court next month.

One of the boys, aged 15, is accused of wounding with reckless disregard and reckless driving causing injury.

He also faces charges of failing to stop for police, unlawfully taking two vehicles valued at $10,000 and $19,000 respectively and dangerous driving.

The younger defendant, 14, faces two charges of unlawfully getting into a motor vehicle.

Dame Therese Walsh has been speaking with the officer's family and offering her support.

The youths have not yet admitted or denied the charges. They have automatic name suppression.

More than $88,000 has been raised by the public for the officer’s family after prominent business leader Dame Therese Walsh set up a Givealittle page to support them.

Walsh has previously told NZME the family were grateful for the public’s support and had been reading all the messages of love and encouragement shared on the page.

“Those messages are bolstering them as they go through a really difficult time,” she said.

“They’re a really strong, service-oriented family.”

Walsh said the Givealittle page aimed to invest in “an unknown future for the police officer, for his young daughter, partner and that young family as they move forward through a challenging time”.

Melissa Nightingale is a Wellington-based reporter who covers crime, justice and news in the capital. She joined the Herald in 2016 and has worked as a journalist for 12 years.