New Zealand's child poverty targets set by the Labour government have not been met and Phillip Mehrtens has been reunited with his family after being held captive for 19.5 months.
A man is facing serious charges, including allegedly strangling a police dog unconscious and endangering transport, after he led police on a “dangerous” chase from the CBD to Avondale, before fleeing on foot when he got his car stuck on train tracks.
The 31-year-old Whanganui man – who was earlier disqualified from driving – will appear in the Auckland District Court today facing nine charges including injuring a police dog and endangering transport.
Senior Sergeant Dave Plunkett told the Herald the charges came after a “dangerous 20-minute-long event”.
At 12.10am on Sunday, police signalled a Nissan Cube station wagon to stop on Waterloo Quadrant in Auckland’s CBD.
The Nissan then travelled to St George’s Rd in Avondale and the driver turned onto the railway tracks.
He got stuck after about 100m, got out of the car and ran off.
A police sergeant and dog handler were soon at the scene and confronted the driver.
A source claimed he “took a swing” at the sergeant and the dog was deployed.
The man allegedly “began choking it to the point of unconsciousness”.
“The short-lived but dangerous incident culminated with the dog’s handler and a sergeant rushing to its aid and freeing it from the alleged offender’s grip,” said Plunkett.
The alleged offender was driving a Nissan Cube. Photo / File
“The dog regained consciousness in time to help complete the arrest.
“The man was taken into custody at the scene and received medical treatment for bites to his leg and arms.
“The police dog was taken to the vet to be assessed, but thankfully suffered only minor injuries.”
Plunkett said the incident was still under investigation but the man would appear in court today on including two counts of assaulting police, two counts of resisting police, dangerous driving, failing to stop, injuring a police dog, driving while disqualified and endangering the safety of rail employees and trains within a rail corridor.
The accused faces up to 14 years in prison on the charge of endangering transport alone.
Any person who kills, maims, wounds or otherwise injures a police dog can be jailed for up to two years and or fined up to $15,000.
Anna Leask is a Christchurch-based reporter who covers national crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2008 and has worked as a journalist for 18 years with a particular focus on family and gender-based violence, child abuse, sexual violence, homicides, mental health and youth crime. She writes, hosts and produces the award-winning podcast A Moment In Crime, released monthly on nzherald.co.nz
