Police and the armed offenders squad will be out in force in the northern Hawke's Bay town of Wairoa tonight.

A man was shot in the face and 24 arrests made after a violent gang brawl in the Hawke's Bay town of Wairoa this morning.

A woman police constable was attacked by a motorist she pulled over for drunken driving.

Armed police remain on alert after a gang confrontation in Wairoa last night ended with a man being shot in the face.

Bar patrons took a drunk man outside because they thought he was about to vomit, not realising he was choking on a pie, the coroner has found.

Guy Sainsbury came across a group of people who had seen a vehicle 80m down a bank, and decided to look around the area himself.