Two people have been arrested, and six cars impounded following an "antisocial road user event" in Levin that saw police pelted with rocks and bottles, leaving officers injured and their patrol vehicles damaged.
Around 30 officers were preemptively deployed to the event, which took place in a carpark on Bath St around 8pm.
Inspector Ross Grantham said the gathering saw 200 cars show up, "each containing multiple passengers".
The vehicles then converged at Queen St and State Highway 57 intersection, where they tried to do burnouts.
When they arrived, the officers faced "aggressive behaviour of many of those involved".
"Police staff managed to disrupt the activity and move them on, but not before patrol cars were kicked by bystanders, who also threw bottles at the cars," Grantham said.
A man was arrested for obstruction and found to have a flick knife on him.
The group then moved to Miro St in Otaki, where they did more burnouts.
"Police chose to avoid actively engaging at this location, given it was an industrial cul de sac which would have posed a further risk to our staff," Grantham said.
The group then drove back to Levin, at the intersection of State Highway 57 and Tavistock Rd, where they once again blocked roads and did burnouts.
"A police patrol attempted to drive through the group to disrupt them. However, the observing crowd turned on the officers, kicking and bottling the car," Graham said.
One of the patrol vehicles' windows was smashed during the chaos.
After dispersing some of the traffic, the drivers went to the intersection of Queen St and State Highway 1.
The group was met with police armed with protective shields, but when the officers turned onto Oxford St, the crowd had grown "significantly" and had turned "violent".
"People threw bottles, rocks, and bricks at the retreating police," Grantham said.
Two officers suffered minor injuries after items hit their legs.
A man who was arrested for disorderly behaviour was allegedly wearing a stab-proof vest and carrying a "large knife".
"This is incredibly concerning, as it indicates that the crowd was not just car enthusiasts but included people out to deliberately provoke, aggravate, and endanger," Grantham said.
"To ensure the safety of officers, further anti-social driving behaviours such as burnouts were observed from a distance, and officers will be utilising footage taken and received to follow up on illegal behaviour.
"Police absolutely understand the stress and concern illegal and anti-social street racing causes members of the community, and we are committed to disrupting this activity by breaking it up when it occurs and holding offenders to account."
He said it was an example of how "incredibly dangerous" situations could become and said he was "very proud" of the staff who put themselves in dangerous ways.
"Police go to work every day to help make our communities safer, and behaviour such as this, which prevents officers from doing so, is entirely unacceptable.
"Police will be utilising tools such as CCTV and other information gathered at the time to follow up on any other criminal offending.
"Police thank everyone who reported concerns to us, and appeal to anyone who has information on illegal or unsafe activity to report this to police via 105 with as much detail as possible."
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
