Armed man flees pursuing driver

SMASH: The path of a car that chased a man through back sections on Renall St.

A driver escaping police barrelled his late model car through boundary fences and across neighbouring properties in Masterton yesterday while bearing down on a "terrified" man who was armed with a knife, a witness says.

The pursuit drama unfolded about 3pm while the witness, who declined to be named, was working at the nearby Renall St property of a family with four young children, who were all at home.

At the time, Wairarapa College students were also spilling on to neighbouring streets at the end of the school day.

At least a half dozen uniformed Masterton police and plain-clothes detectives joined police dog Thames and handler Mike Wakefield in a property-to-property search for people associated with the incident, apparently closing the net on their quarry within a half an hour.

Police were stationed at several points surrounding the area of Renall St, Pownall St and College St, from where the man in the car had made a successful escape, the witness said.

He said the man with a knife had been arrested, while police were examining the scene where the incident unfolded.

The witness said he had been working at the rear of a nearby property when the armed man sprinted into his view. He had been concerned for the welfare of the man on foot.

"A guy came running up the driveway and a white car followed him, with the police following up behind that. The guy had a small knife in hand, and he ran and jumped the fence. He looked terrified - pretty scared," he said.

"The guy in the white car chased him and went straight through one fence and then kind of got stuck, before he planted his boot and went through another fence and on to a third property."

The man said he heard one of the men shout out during the chase: "What the f*** are you doing?"

He said: "There was no one else in danger really, just the guy who was running, and he looked absolutely terrified."

Police refused to respond to questions put to them by the Wairarapa Times-Age about the incident, saying the investigation was ongoing.