UPDATED 10.23AM: A man has been taken to Auckland Central Hospital with head injuries after being found unconscious by council workers earlier this morning.

Police have cordoned off a section of Victoria Park in the central city after being called To the scene around 8am.

Auckland City Police Senior Sergeant Matt Rogers said: “A man has been found with some injuries and we are investigating the cause and the circumstances.

“He was in a fairly bad way. We are working around investigating the circumstances and if it does turn out to be an assault we’ll deal with that and if it’s otherwise we’ll get to the bottom of that, too.”

A worker at a nearby business, Syl O’Reilly, said he saw the victim lying down in the park about 200m from Halsey St as he walked to work at 6.45am this morning.

“He was lying down face first on the grass. I thought he was sleeping or had drunk too much. He looked like a homeless guy and had his bag next to him, he just looked like he was sleeping or something.”

O’Reilly only knew something more sinister had happened when the police started turning up soon after.

An Auckland DHB spokeswoman said the man was still being assessed and an updated condition would be available later today.