Offender broke into pub for 'a beer and a feed' after ramming police cars
From reporter Olivia Caldwell:
A ute driver rammed two police cars, fled through three small towns and broke into a pub for a “beer and a feed” before his eventual arrest.
Police notified Moorings Restaurant owner Anthony Robertson that his venue near Cromwell had been broken into at 2am after they caught the alleged offender.
“He broke in through the door, had a beer and a feed ... and off he went. We weren't involved in all the rest of the carnage,” Robertson said.
He could not say which beer the suspect chose to drink or what food he ate.
The crime spree began with a family violence incident just before 6pm on Tuesday.
As officers responded, the offender drove his Toyota Landcruiser into two police cars, damaging them.
The officers were uninjured, Sergeant Derek Ealson said.
The offender then drove through three Central Otago townships in a chase that lasted several hours.
A dog handler from Dunedin eventually caught the man in Pisa Moorings, north of Cromwell, as he tried to flee.
“He was involved in a burglary incident, and was on foot. While on foot he attempted to damage another police car with rocks,” Sergeant Mike Calvert alleged.
The dog handler had driven more than four hours from Dunedin to pursue the offender in Central Otago.
Calvert said police were reviewing where police dogs and handlers were placed.
“The Central Otago region is growing and has the same need for dog handlers as further south, where there are five dog handlers.”
The alleged offender, a 35-year-old Southland man, was remanded in custody to face 11 charges, including trespass, attempting to take a vehicle, careless operation of a motor vehicle, entering a building with intention to commit an imprisonable offence, assault with intent, assaulting police officers, threatening to kill a police officer and contravening a protection order.
He is next due to appear in the Queenstown District Court on October 25.
“While this was an unpredictable and concerning incident, we want to reassure the Central Otago community that there is no further threat,” Ealson said.
Police wanted to hear from anyone with video of the Toyota Landcruiser as it was driven through Tarras, Wānaka, Lowburn and Pisa Moorings, or video of the man’s arrest.
Anyone with information should call police and quote file number 221018/3292.
⚠️ DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS. If you love them, don't leave them. ⚠️
It's a message we share time and time again, and this year, we're calling on you to help us spread that message further.
Did you know that calls to SPCA about dogs left inside hot cars made up a whopping 11% of all welfare calls last summer? This is a completely preventable issue, and one which is causing hundreds of dogs (often loved pets) to suffer.
Here are some quick facts to share with the dog owners in your life:
👉 The temperature inside a car can heat to over 50°C in less than 15 minutes.
👉 Parking in the shade and cracking windows does little to help on a warm day. Dogs rely on panting to keep cool, which they can't do in a hot car.
👉 This puts dogs at a high risk of heatstroke - a serious condition for dogs, with a mortality rate between 39%-50%.
👉 It is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act to leave a dog in a hot vehicle if they are showing signs of heat stress. You can be fined, and prosecuted.
SPCA has created downloadable resources to help you spread the message even further. Posters, a flyer, and a social media tile can be downloaded from our website here: www.spca.nz...
We encourage you to use these - and ask your local businesses to display the posters if they can. Flyers can be kept in your car and handed out as needed.
This is a community problem, and one we cannot solve alone. Help us to prevent more tragedies this summer by sharing this post.
On behalf of the animals - thank you ❤️
Would you like a free copy of our February 2025 issue?
Kia ora neighbours. We give away free copies to readers whose recipes are used in our magazine. We're still on the hunt for tomato recipes, so send your family's favourite way to use up your homegrown harvest, to: mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz. If we use it in the mag, you will receive a free copy of the mag
On the range
Venetian plaster finishes are on-trend at the moment, so why not recreate this look at home and cover that unsightly rangehood at the same time? Find out how to create your own with Resene Sandtex and these easy step by step instructions.
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