Man due in court after violent rampage in Auckland's Epsom
He is accused of assaulting a jogger on Manukau Road on Wednesday morning, stealing the car of a good samaritan stopping to help, and then ramming it into a group of high school students riding bicycles.
This was followed by a violent attack on a dog, which later died.
Three of the students were injured, and one remains in critical condition at Auckland Hospital.
Police are treating the rampage as "six separate incidents that unfolded in relatively quick succession".
They said just eight minutes passed between receiving the first call and the man's arrest.
The accused man is due to appear in the Auckland District Court on Thursday and faces 14 charges:
- Two counts of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm
- Two counts of injuring with intent to cause grievous bodily harm
- Two assaults with a weapon
- Two counts of failing to stop and ascertain injury
- Wilful ill treatment of an animal
- Two counts of dangerous driving
- Unlawful taking of a motor vehicle
- Attempted unlawful taking
- Aggravated assault or resisting
Andre Lipa, a witness to the man's arrest, described the aftermath as a "war zone."
"I saw the five bikes absolutely buckled and smashed on the side of the road with an ambulance and one person being attended to, and then further down there were two or three cars just in the middle of the road that had been hit," he said.