Police led on a four-hour chase

JANEY GREGORY

SURROUNDED: Hamilton police took away the occupants of this Holden station wagon after it was pulled over in dramatic fashion on Lincoln St just after 12 noon on Wednesday.

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A Paeroa man led police on a four-hour chase around the town during the early hours of this morning, ploughing into several police cars before being nabbed by police dogs.

Earlier a man was stabbed in neighbouring Te Aroha and rushed to hospital for surgery.

Paeroa police were called after an alleged row between two male flatmates, in which one is understood to have used a pool cue to smash windows of the house.

Northern police communications Inspector Cornell Kluessien said the 50-year-old man then fled the Mill Rd house about 11.45pm, careering through a fence.

The four-hour chase around the streets of Paeroa then took place. Although it wasn't high speed – limited to 60kmh around town and 120kmh on the open road – the man's car ploughed into a car parked by the town's L&P Bottle on Normanby Rd just after 1am.

The man drove back to the Mill Rd house two more times throughout the chase and damaged a few patrol cars after ploughing through several roadblocks set up by police.

His vehicle finally came to a halt just before 4am after road spikes were used. The man then fled on foot before a police dog found him – armed with a steel bar – hiding in a drain.

One neighbour said she understood the man may have been under the influence of drugs and had used a pool cue to smash up windows. However, one woman who got up about 2am after her dogs would not stop barking was told by police to stay inside and lock her doors.

Another neighbour also said her dog didn't stop barking all night due to cars driving up and down the road.

"I saw cars out here, actually. Cars stopping and starting and revving their engines and stuff... I got fed up with my dogs but couldn't see anything. After a while I just thought it was a car that had broken down."

One woman said the man had flatmates in the past but was unaware of his new tenant. The home owner kept to himself, she said. The man was this morning being interviewed by police and charges had not been laid.

Meanwhile a 31-year-old man was allegedly stabbed by his partner using a knife he had just finished sharpening in Te Aroha last night.

The knife perforated the Coromandel man's bowel and he was flown to Waikato Hospital for emergency surgery in the Westpac Waikato Air Ambulance.

The woman was arrested and charged with wounding with intent and was to appear in the Hamilton District Court today.