Youth on life support after being hit by car

Family members are gathering at the beside of a 17-year-old south Auckland youth who is brain dead after being hit by a car in Papatoetoe.

TV3 reported the Tongan youth was attending a gathering of his extended family when several members went outside to stop another family member drink driving.

Police said three carloads of youths pulled up as they were outside and a scuffle broke out.

The 17-year-old went outside to help and was hit by a car as it left the scene.

"He has head injuries and we understand that he has now been declared clinically dead and is being kept on a life support system until family members have come to the hospital bedside," the police spokesman told TV3.

"These people were in the wrong place at the wrong time. It seems a really random attack.

"Five minutes either side and these cars would have driven past the address and these people would have still been inside. They just happen to have walked out on the street at the wrong time."

The car believed to have been involved was found on Saturday afternoon in Manukau and would be forensically examined.

Five men aged 18-22 have been charged with assault.

-NZPA