Watch: Police officer repeatedly punched in the head at Auckland gas station

A police officer was struck on the head and knocked to the ground more than eight times during an early morning attack on an Auckland petrol station.

Footage on social media revealed the dramatic scene of a man suing a male cop at 1am on Sunday at the Mobil gas station on Lincoln Rd in Henderson, before delivering multiple punches – all aimed at the cop’s head.

The officer tries to back off, but the man repeatedly hits the officer on the head until he is knocked to the ground at the gas station’s air pump.

Despite the officer being on his knees, the man continues to hit and kick his head until the officer falls on his back.

A female officer, also seen in the footage, was repeatedly told to “stop it” to the man who assaulted her colleague.

The agents do not return with violence at any point in the footage, but towards the end the male agent points with a taser at the man who is attacking him.

A police spokeswoman said two officers were holding a traffic stop on Lincoln Rd.

“One of the occupants of the vehicle attacked the two officers, luckily both officers suffered only minor injuries.”

A gas station worker said the man arrived around 12:30 p.m. with up to 10 others in a convoy of about five cars.

He said the group entered the gas station to buy food and use the bathroom.

The employee said they were drunk.

The employee claimed that a man then tried to get into the officers’ car. Watching from security cameras, the staffer said he saw the male officer trying to stop the man before the attack started.

“I saw that from my camera, he was cheeky…punching [the cop] in his face and the officer was on the ground,” he said.

“It was a scary night.”

The employee said he had been told that the female officer had also been beaten, but that was not clear based on the footage.

A police spokeswoman said the man and another person then fled the scene but were later located and arrested using the Eagle helicopter.

Tomorrow a 19-year-old is to appear in Waitākere court; charged with intentional damage, unlawful interference with a motor vehicle and two charges of aggravated assault.

“This kind of behavior will not be tolerated and the police will continue to do everything they can to hold offenders like this to account,” the spokesperson said.