Police units from Wanaka, Cromwell and Alexandra were called to a highway incident near Lowburn last Sunday, after several reports of a woman hitting a man over the head in a parked vehicle.

Alexandra police Senior Constable Graham Perkins said the incident involved a family from Haast who was returning from Queenstown airport to pick up the 16-year-old daughter’s boyfriend.

On the way back an argument broke out between the teenage girl who was driving, and her step father, and it was alleged she belted him over the head with a piece of wood.

When police arrived, the man was bleeding profusely but he told officers his injuries were just from falling over.

Snr Const Perkins said it was clear the mother and step father were both intoxicated and despite ambulance officers being called, the victim refused to get medical attention.

The family was allowed to continue on with their journey and police were continuing with their enquiries.

While police were following the family to Makarora to ensure no more incidents took place in the vehicle, they found a male asleep inside the unlocked decommissioned Department of Conservation office.  

He was returned to Wanaka voluntarily and Emergency Psychiatric Services were called where he was recalled to an inpatient facility in Dunedin.

Alexandra police were also called to assist Cromwell units and volunteer fire officers last Sunday in the Kawarau Gorge, after a horse became distressed when getting tangled in the back of a horse float.

Snr Const Perkins said the horse’s foot got wedged in the door of the float and emergency services had to take down the trailer door to free it. He said fortunately the horse received no injuries.

A Bridge Hill resident was lucky to have a sergeant find his cellphone at the weekend, after the officer was out running on the Millennium track.

The man told police he’d lost his phone after having a few drinks one night and decided to bike home along the river track.

But the cellphone went missing when he misjudged the boardwalk and rolled off down the bank into a tree stump.

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