News
April 18, 2017
A teenage boy is in a critical condition in Auckland City Hospital, days after he apparently fell off his bicycle and onto a road.
The boy had not been wearing a helmet and was found unconscious, with his bike, in Hibiscus Coast Highway at Hatfields Beach on Easter Sunday.
Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopter intensive care paramedic Chris Deacon arrived at the scene on-board a chopper about 1.20pm.
By that stage the boy was in the back of a road ambulance, still unconscious.
"From the story we heard he'd been coming down the hill on his bike, and he was found just in the middle of the road unconscious," Deacon said.
"No one saw the accident. No one knows what happened. The fact nobody saw it and he was just found in the middle of the road is most unusual.
"His mother turned up at the scene and that was upsetting for her, to see her son unwell."
Deacon said it wasn't often he attended a patient who had suffered a head injury while cycling without a helmet.
"It does happen, but it's not an epidemic or anything like that.
"Often it's just when people hop on their bicycle just fleetingly, when they're not even going a great distance.
"It's just an unfortunate accident. A helmet certainly would have been a benefit."
A spokeswoman for Auckland City Hospital said the boy was in a critical and unstable condition on Tuesday.
