Lime New Zealand denies it removed one of its scooters from the scene of a fatal accident before first responders arrived.
A 23-year-old male died on Friday last week after falling from a Lime scooter in St Mary's Bay, Auckland, on September 16.
Jeff Young was driving behind the lime scooter user when the accident unfolded in front of him.
"He ended up veering off to the left of road to the right a little, potentially looking over his shoulder - not too sure, but certainly it locked up and the rear wheel lifted, he went flying over the handle bars and he landed somewhere just out here," he told 1 NEWS.
A 23-year-old man died four days after the September 16 accident.
Auckland councillor Christine Fletcher, who is currently running to be deputy mayor, said she was told by an eyewitness that a Lime representative was at the scene very quickly and removed the scooter, which was ridden by the victim.
Ms Fletcher told The AM Show that the eyewitness said "the scooter started to wobble, and stopped".
"He went over the handlebars, and the person who has advised us of this called the ambulance."
Lime has told Auckland Council that they have undertaken a "thorough inspection" of the scooter in question, and that there were no mechanical faults.
Ms Fletcher said it was not good enough for Lime to do their own investigation, and that it was "quite wrong that the scooter was removed before the ambulance came and before the police came".
However Lauren Mentjox, public affairs manager of Lime NZ, says the scooter wasn't removed before emergency services arrived.
"We are co-operating fully with the authorities on their investigation and this includes providing the scooter and its data to them.
"We remain mindful of the fact that the matter is under investigation but can confirm that, contrary to speculation, the scooter was not removed from the scene before emergency services arrived."
Police said in a statement that they had since obtained the scooter, and that Lime was cooperating with the investigation.
"Police were not immediately aware of the incident occurring and were not notified until approximately two hours afterwards," they said.
"Once Police were notified, we attended the area but the actual scene was not immediately clear and a number of Lime scooters were found in the area.
"Police can confirm we have since obtained the exact scooter involved.
"Lime is cooperating with Police as part of our investigation on behalf of the Coroner."
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