Road worker tackles thief
A Taupiri road worker slammed a fleeing thief to the ground, reports the Waikato Times, adding All Blacks head coach Steve Hansen should check the worker out for the team.
The incident that ended in a citizen’s rugby tackle started in Ngaruawahia last Wednesday morning, North Waikato response manager Senior Sergeant Gill Meadows told the paper.
An officer responded to calls from the public about suspicious activity at a residential address. She found two men stripping a house of copper, claiming to work for a certain company.
Upon checking, the officer was told the pair had nothing to do with the company and told the men they were under arrest.
They threw her to the ground and fled south on State Highway 1. When they got to Horotiu they turned north on to the Waikato Expressway toward Taupiri – and eventually into the arms of our road worker with the expert tackle:
“Officers deployed road spikes at the round-about at the Taupiri end of the expressway but when the offenders saw that they drove on to the grass verge, bring their car to a halt.
“Workers doing landscaping on the expressway saw the pair trying to flee and one of them tackled an offender just as officers arrived. The second offender was apprehended by a police dog and handler about 10 minutes later.”
The men from Manurewa, aged 34 and 23, are being interviewed by police.
In a separate incident about the same time, members of the public phoned 111 to report a suspicious vehicle in Tahuna.
“The land owner and neighbours followed two people from the car and relayed accurate information to us leading to the apprehension of two juvenile males from Mangere in a stolen car,” Meadows said.
The pair are being interviewed and have been linked to several burglaries in Counties and North Waikato.
“The two important learnings from today are that if you see something that doesn’t seem right, then do something, ring 111,” he said.
