A senior police officer says he stood at the bedside of a critically injured colleague in despair over the weekend, listening to machines whirring and thought "what an absolute waste".

A police officer is in a critical condition after being hit by a fleeing driver in Palmerston North overnight.

A police officer is in a critical condition in Wellington Hospital after he was struck by a car, allegedly stolen in Palmerston North, and thrown several metres. National Crime…