A woman fought with police as they tried to rescue her two dogs from a four-wheel-drive vehicle which had become stuck in sand and was being inundated with seawater, the Greymouth District Court has heard.
Rachel Margaret Meaclem, 38, of Blaketown, was sentenced yesterday to 50 hours' community work after she admitted resisting arrest and assault with a blunt instrument, a rock.
Police prosecutor Steven Greer said a lone police officer answered the call at 6.50pm on March 11, when he was directed to an incident at South Beach, where a vehicle was stuck in the sand near the water line.
Meaclem and her friend on the beach were intoxicated and objected when told to leave the vehicle because it was getting too dangerous to try to extricate it.
Mr Greer said Meaclem got in the vehicle and closed the door, forcing the constable to physically remove her.
Fearing the dogs would drown because the water was already near the top of the wheels, the officer then tried to free them from the back of the vehicle but Meaclem had closed the rear door and was barring them from entering.
She was again removed when other police arrived to help. One of the dogs was freed but Meaclem again closed the door before the second dog could be released.
She was shepherded several metres up the beach, where she picked up a rock the size of a tennis ball and threw it at the head of one of the constables, who had to catch it to avoid it striking his face. She then struggled violently with the other officer, thrashing her arms about, punching and kicking him.
Lawyer Eymard Bradley said Meaclem regretted the incident, which was caused by police "jumping the gun".
Meaclem had already contacted a contractor who was on the way with an excavator to tow the vehicle out, and the only reason she closed the back door was because she did not want the interior of the vehicle to get wet.
As secretary of the local surf club she had a good knowledge of sea conditions and was waiting for a set of smaller waves before freeing the dogs, Mr Bradley said.
- The Greymouth Star