A Hamilton sparky who intervened in a supermarket car park robbery is paying for his heroism.
Gareth Godfrey stepped in when a woman was being assaulted by offenders trying to steal her car at a supermarket in Hamilton. But then the assailants' attention turned to Godfrey, running him over with a car and leaving him with a broken leg.
While Godfrey said his leg will never fully recover, he told the AM show that he doesn't regret his actions.
"I acted on instinct, I saw a lady that was in trouble and I went to try and intervene," he said. "It probably ended badly for me but I kind of succeeded in what I was trying to do."
He said he heard the woman screaming at a supermarket car park in the Hamilton suburb of Rototuna at 4pm on June 21.
Godfrey then saw the offenders pushing the woman, trying to steal her car and stepped in, but was deliberately hit with a car by the offenders before the fled the scene.
Godfrey has been in hospital for the past week and said he will have physiotherapy to help his leg that was crushed by the car.
"Basically, they just ran me over," Godfrey said. "My leg happened to be going under the wheel which stopped me in my tracks."
Godfrey said his injury is frustrating because he is an active person. He is training to become a qualified electrician and enjoys competitive fly fishing.
He is a father of a young son and husband to Rosanna Godfrey who was called after the incident and rushed to the scene.
"[I was] taken back by everyone helping him and supporting him at the scene," Rosanna said.
A Givealittle page has been set up by a witness at the scene and has so far raised over $70,000 at the time of writing.
Police have located and arrested four young people over the incident.
One youth and an 18-year-old female have been charged with aggravated robbery and all four people arrested were charged with unlawfully getting into a motor vehicle, a police spokesperson said.
The group was due to appear in Hamilton Youth and District Courts on June 23.
