Driver shadows then disarms man

KELLY HODEL/Waikato Times

THIS WAY: Matatoki residents walk towards the safety of police lines after a stand-off involving a man armed with a knife.

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A father of two ensured the safety of an armed man walking into the path of oncoming traffic south of Thames yesterday.

The armed offenders squad later arrested the armed man in Matatoki, about 10 kilometres south of Thames.

Mike, who did not want to give his surname, was driving south on State Highway 26 about 10am when he noticed the man walking from Matatoki toward Paeroa.

"He was walking into oncoming traffic, waving the knife," Mike told the Times.

"Drivers were having to swerve to miss him."

Mike followed the man slowly in his car. In the back seat sat his two young children.

The walker eventually noticed Mike and threatened him with a knife which Mike managed to grab out of the man's hands.

"Then he threatened to shoot me. He was pretty wide-eyed." When the man ran into a house, Mike called the police because the man had said he would get more weapons.

"They got here pretty quick."

Inspector Lou Alofa, of police northern communications, said police had been called to a domestic dispute at the man's house. However, when they got there they realised the man was making more threats.

When the Times arrived at the scene, a lone armed police officer was approaching the house the man had entered. The road was closed and people had been told to stay in their cars.

Armed offenders squad members arrived and a man in his late 30s was arrested.