Armed police incident leaves docked boaties hungry for a slice of pizza

Tauranga Marina. Photo / File

A 13-hour stand-off between armed police resulted in a boat of hungry boaties craving a slice of pizza.

Police officers, including the Armed Offenders Squad and a police negotiation team, were at the Tauranga Bridge Marina throughout Wednesday night talking to a man on a boat who had allegedly made threats towards an officer earlier in the day before fleeing on foot to a boat in the nearby marina.

Police had tried to stop a vehicle on Te Awanui Drive about 3.40pm.

Those in neighbouring docked boats were either evacuated or told to anchor up out of harm's way and keep safe.

While police negotiated with the man, an international boat with Americans on-board were getting hungry.

Tauranga Bridge Marina manager Tony Arnold said people on the boat desperately wanted pizza but were ordered to stay on board.

"God knows what they think of lovely Tauranga," Arnold said, but assured they had a freezer full of food and did not starve.

Arnold came into work from leave as soon as he heard about the situation unfolding to which he said at least 15 police vehicles were on-site while he was there.

"And God knows how many police, they were all over the place," he said.

He said a lot of people used their boats over the holiday time who were affected by the incident.

"Some of them separated from family members who were on board a short distance away."

He said the police were "brilliant" and his staff were outstanding in the face of what ended up being a 13-hour ordeal.

The marina staff were onsite until the incident came to an end this morning.

"The best outcome was achieved and we apologise to those affected," Arnold said.

A 34-year-old man was arrested without incident and was due to appear in the Tauranga District Court on Monday.