A Wellington policeman hailed by colleagues for the off-duty arrest of a serial burglar is being investigated by the Police Complaints Authority after the burglar was hurt in the arrest.
The officer, bomb-detection dog handler Constable Nick Brown, aged 30, said that he feared he would be stabbed to death when he was attacked by the man with garden shears after a chase in Upper Hutt early in March.
He is waiting for the results of blood tests after the hepatitis C-infected drug addict coated him in blood. He has not been tested for the HIV virus.
Detective Inspector Stu Wildon confirmed that the incident was being investigated after the burglar suffered injuries from dog bites in a five to 10-minute chase.
Constable Brown said that he had been left traumatised by the clash, and some of it had been seen by his 2-year-old child and pregnant wife.
Last Friday, Lower Hutt man Darrin Rae, 36, was sentenced to three years' jail after admitting 24 burglaries committed to support his $250-a-day morphine habit.
Rae, also sentenced to nine months' jail, to be served concurrently, for assaulting Constable Brown with the garden shears, disputed a police figure of 143 burglaries and the $108,000 the victims sought in reparation.
Constable Brown and his family were at home when he saw Rae run from a neighbouring house after an alarm sounded. He confronted Rae and gave chase with police dog Max.
Rae was caught near a garden shed, where he attacked the constable with a pair of garden shears.
- NZPA
Probe into officer's arrest of burglar
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