New bride chases down drunk driver

Annie de Montalk

TROUBLE AND STRIFE: Rhiannon and Jeff Mabbett's marriage got off to an early hiccup.

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A couple's wedding night was almost ruined when they were hit by a drunk-driver who then fled - until the bride chased him down.

Jeff and Rhiannon Mabbett went through their first marital ordeal straight after their wedding reception on Saturday night in Auckland.

The couple were being driven to a hotel in a friend's car complete with "all the ribbons and wedding regalia", Rhiannon Mabbett said.

They stopped at an orange light, only to be rear-ended by another car.

"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 Rhiannon Mabbett called the 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."

The feisty bride then reached in and grabbed the man's car keys. But that was not the end of the saga.

"He decided to walk off. 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."

He ducked into a bottle shop; she followed him. He ran up the road while passers-by laughed at the unlikely sight; she kept following him.

She finally stopped the pursuit when the man went into a dark alleyway.

When the 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.

And where had the groom been throughout the chase?

"He was pulling me back, but the cops were telling me to go after this guy," the bride said.

A Glen Innes police spokeswoman said a man was arrested and charged with drink driving and driving while disqualified.