KEY POINTS:
A drunken "prat" who fled after rear-ending a wedding car in Auckland was chased down by the feisty bride who was not going to let him ruin her big night.
Jeff and Rhiannon Mabbett were being driven to their hotel after their wedding reception on Saturday night when their car was struck from behind, The Dominion Post reported.
"We pulled around the corner, and my mate got out of the car and asked the guy where his licence was," she said.
"The guy was too drunk, and all he could really say was, 'I'm a criminal, I'll pay you now'."
When the new bride called police, the "incoherently drunk" driver tried to get the car going again.
"He tried to drive forward - and ran over my wedding dress, the prat."
Ms Mabbett reached into the car and grabbed the man's car keys, but the man walked away.
"The cops (on the phone) told me to follow him, so I followed him. And then he started running, so I started running after him in my wedding dress up the street."
She followed him into a bottle store and chased him up the road before stopping when he ducked into a dark alley.
When police arrived, she and her new husband - who had caught up to her - took them to the alleyway, where the man was found crouching in a corner and arrested.
A Glen Innes police spokeswoman said a man was arrested and charged with drink driving and driving while disqualified.
- NZPA
