Former Canterbury cop dies of injury

A longtime former police officer died after sustaining a head injury while on a hunting trip on Stewart Island.

Greg Sutherland, 51, of Timaru, was airlifted to Dunedin Hospital after an incident while hunting with friends on November 20.

A Givealittle page created for the family at the time said they were in the intensive care unit and that they were “preparing for the long term.”

But an update on the page posted Sunday said Sutherland had died in hospital.

“Unfortunately, earlier this week, Greg’s condition worsened.

“At 8.39pm on Saturday, December 5, 2020, Greg left this land, surrounded by his loving family.”

Sutherland had been a police officer for almost 30 years, spent two years in South Auckland before moving to Christchurch, and then, in 1997, to Twizel for six years and Tekapo for five.

He was stationed in Timaru for 12 years, primarily as a front-line sergeant.

In 2018 he left the police to embark on a new career as a funeral director at Timaru’s Aoraki Funeral Home.

Aoraki Area Commander, Inspector Dave Gaskin, said Sutherland was well known, well respected and well liked.

“He touched many lives. He left his mark on everyone.”

While it was “incredibly sad” that Sutherland had died, he believed the enthusiastic nature lover would also have hated if his accident had left him “unable to live as before.”

The Givealittle page had raised $ 27,540 for the Sutherland family yesterday afternoon.