{"id":17392,"date":"2026-05-12T18:21:04","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T06:21:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=17392"},"modified":"2026-05-12T18:21:04","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T06:21:04","slug":"whangarei-man-praised-for-tackling-man-fleeing-police","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=17392","title":{"rendered":"Whang\u0101rei man praised for tackling man fleeing police"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Whang\u0101rei man who tackled a man fleeing police he was just in the right place at the right time.<\/p>\n

The tackler, who asked not to be named, told RNZ he was having a coffee at his regular spot.<\/p>\n

“I just stood up and dropped that shot on him. He went to the ground, and then within seconds, the police were on him, so I got off and sat back down and finished my coffee.<\/p>\n

“It was a very quick moment, and I just thought it would be a good thing to help them and slow him down.”<\/p>\n

Whang\u0101rei area response manager, Senior Sergeant Rene Rakete, said police received multiple calls on Monday morning reporting disorderly behaviour from a man in Whang\u0101rei CBD, primarily along Cameron Street.<\/p>\n

“The male was observed kicking shop windows, which resulted in one shop front being smashed, and throwing outdoor furniture as he moved through the area.<\/p>\n

“Officers responded quickly and located the man, who fled on foot upon seeing police.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A Whang\u0101rei man has been praised for tackling a man who was fleeing from the police.\u00a0<\/span>Photo:\u00a0NZ Police \/ Screenshot<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

As officers were chasing the man towards Vine Street at about 7.40am, a member of the public who was outside Honey’s Coffee Shop intervened.<\/p>\n

“This member of the public has seen the alleged offender running towards him and tackled him to the ground, allowing the officers directly behind him to safely take him into custody.<\/p>\n

“I’d like to acknowledge this man’s actions, his intervention prevented further damage and ensured the matter was brought under control quickly,” Rakete said.<\/p>\n

“While we encourage the community not to take matters into their own hands, this individual definitely came to the aid of police and we are grateful.<\/p>\n

“I also wouldn’t be surprised if he gets a call up from the All Blacks after watching that tackle.”<\/p>\n

The tackler told RNZ that while he had hung up his rugby boots a few years ago, a police officer at the scene called his tackle textbook.<\/p>\n

“I watch a lot of rugby. I was just watching my nephew on the weekend. He plays in the U9s. I was actually talking to his dad about how he should tackle. I said to him, you’ve gotta commit and stand in front of them. I was thinking about that when I put the hit on [tackled] this guy.”<\/p>\n

Source: RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Whang\u0101rei man who tackled a man fleeing police he was just in the right place at the right time. The tackler, who asked not to be named, told RNZ he was having a coffee at his regular spot. “I just stood up and dropped that shot on him. He went to the ground, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":17393,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[174],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nz-news"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17392"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17394,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17392\/revisions\/17394"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}