A 49-year-old arrested following a violent rampage in the Auckland suburb of Epsom is due to appear in court.

He is accused of assaulting a jogger in Manukau Rd on Wednesday morning, stealing the car of a good Samaritan who stopped to help the woman, and then ramming it into a group of school students riding bicycles.

It was followed by a violent attack on a dog, which later died.

Three of the five Auckland Grammar students injured were taken to hospital, where one remains in critical condition. 

Police are treating the rampage as "six separate incidents that unfolded in relatively quick succession".

They said just eight minutes passed between receiving the first call and the man's arrest.

The accused man is due to appear in the Auckland District Court on Thursday and faces 14 charges:

  • Two counts of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm
  • Two counts of injuring with intent to cause grievous bodily harm
  • Two assaults with a weapon
  • Two counts of failing to stop and ascertain injury
  • Wilful ill-treatment of an animal
  • Two counts of dangerous driving
  • Unlawful taking of a motor vehicle
  • Attempted unlawful taking
  • Aggravated assault or resisting

Andre Lipa, a witness to the man's arrest, described the aftermath as a "war zone."

"I saw the five bikes absolutely buckled and smashed on the side of the road with an ambulance and one person being attended to, and then further down there were two or three cars just in the middle of the road that had been hit.”