A young Sikh man has been praised for breaking religious protocol and using his turban to cradle the head of an injured child in Auckland.
Harman Singh, 22, was one of the first at the scene after a five-year-old was hit by a car while walking to school.
Singh said he didn`t think twice about removing his Siropao (turban) to help the child, who was bleeding from the head.
“I wasn`t thinking about the turban. I was thinking about the accident and I just thought, `He needs something on his head because he`s bleeding.` That`s my job – to help,” Singh told a news agency.
While removal of the turban is rare, Singh said the religious protocols did not restrict action in an emergency.
Fellow Sikh Gagan Dhillon was also at the scene. After seeing enough help was already on hand, he took the photo of Singh, posting it to Facebook.
He captioned the photo: “So proud of this young Sikh man who helped at a crash this morning where a child was hit by a car.” Hundreds of people shared the image.
The injured child was walking to school with his older sister when he was hit. The injuries were at first thought to be life threatening, but the child was in a stable condition by Friday afternoon. The child was hit by a four wheel drive as he ran out towards a pedestrian island.
A person who witnessed the incident said the child was thrown “like a ragdoll”.
“It was horrible.”
The boy lay crying on the road as he bled from his face. He was kept still to prevent any further injury.
Police at the scene said the serious crash unit were investigating the accident.