KEY POINTS:
A police officer was set upon by a baseball bat-wielding assailant in central New Plymouth last night.
The officer was talking to the driver of a car when he noticed someone approaching from behind him. He managed to raise his arm fast enough to block a swing from an aluminium baseball bat, then spray his attacker with pepper spray.
Released at close range, both police officer and batsman were hit by the blinding spray.
The attack happened about 11pm.
Sergeant Mike Aro said the attacker dropped the bat and fled, with the officer close behind. He was caught after running about 100 metres, when the pepper spray began to take effect.
Two other officers patrolling nearby helped the wounded policeman subdue and arrest the man.
The attacker had nothing to do with the people in the car, who were stopped during a routine traffic check.
"The officer was having an amicable chat with the driver when this guy came up behind him. The attack was completely unprovoked," he told NZPA.
The officer was taken to hospital, where doctors found he had a bruised arm.
The attacker had been drinking, and had allegedly been thrown out of a bar for fighting and smashed some windows before the attack on the policeman took place, Mr Aro said.
Police had not yet found where he got the bat from and what he was doing with it in the centre of the city.
A 22-year-old Hawera man was appearing in the New Plymouth District Court today, charged with the assault.
- NZPA
