Culverden policeman assaulted

Press, 24 September 1983, Page 3

Culverden policeman assaulted

A man, aged 33, was arrested and charged with resisting and assaulting a Culverden police constable after an incident at a camp in Waiau yesterday morning.

Constable Grahame Fletcher, in his 40s, suffered bruising and abrasions during the incident but did not have to go off work. The accused man will appear in the District Court in Christchurch this morning. A police spokesman in Christchurch said that Constable Fletcher had gone to the motor camp to sort out a domestic dispute that had happened the previous evening. The spokesman said that a woman and the man involved began fighting and Constable Fletcher suffered his injuries when he tried to separate them. He radioed for help and patrol cars from Cheviot, Hamner, Waikari, Rangiora, Kaiapoi, and Kaikoura, were sent, but the constable had the matter under control before they arrived. At one stage, when the constable did not answer the radio and another voice came on, the police in Christchurch feared he might have been taken hostage.

The woman was not hurt, the spokesman said.