Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • What the Actual
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Arrest after Waihi Beach fracas that left firefighters injured

By Belinda Feek
Reporter·NZ Herald·
4 Dec, 2018 09:41 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Locals are pleased to a hear an arrest has been made after two firefighters were assaulted after trying to break up a brawl of drunken men at Waihi Beach on Saturday night.

Locals are pleased to a hear an arrest has been made after two firefighters were assaulted after trying to break up a brawl of drunken men at Waihi Beach on Saturday night.

Police have arrested a 17-year-old after two firefighters suffered bloody noses while trying to break up a brawl at a crash at Waihi Beach.

Emergency services were called to the crash scene on the corner of Snell Cres and Didsbury Cres about 7pm on Saturday night.

However, they arrived to find a mob of drunken youths fighting each other, some who turned up after the crash trying to unleash their own form of vigilante justice, local fire chief Peter Harwood earlier told the Herald.

Two of his crew were left with bloodied noses after they tried to break up the brawl when two vehicles - a ute and a red car - crashed.

A police spokeswoman today confirmed a 17-year-old man had been charged with assault and will appear in court today.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Police are yet to confirm which court he will appear in.

The incident riled up Harwood who said it proved that they needed their local cops back in the town after they were moved Paeroa in a restructure of policing in the Waikato.

"They took our local police away from us and they sent them to Paeroa and that was a really sad day and a really short-sighted day and I think the police nationally need to look at putting constables back into our small town."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

However, Waikato police Superintendent Bruce Bird refuted Harwood's claims and said the seaside town had police available 24-7.

Police prioritised attendance at events based on a number of factors, such as the seriousness of the individual circumstances, vulnerability of the people involved, potential for the incident to escalate, and so on, he said.

But a local woman, who did not want to be named for fear of retribution, was one of the first on the scene and said it was near dark before any police arrived, she estimates at least an hour after she first called 111.

She backed up Harwood's comments and said it was unacceptable that they took so long to arrive.

Discover more

New Zealand|crime

Under siege: The attacks on emergency staff

03 Jan 04:00 PM

She said she could only stand back and watch firefighters arrive and then attempt to diffuse the situation before getting pelted with blows for their efforts.

"A lot of youngster arrived ... and all hell just broke loose. Just people laying into each other and the language, was totally unnecessary.

"The firies were trying to break it up and some of those guys are big guys, but the youngsters they were just literally going berserk."

She was on the phone to 111 and repeatedly asked for police as the brawl was getting bigger before her eyes.

"They took about an hour before they got here, at least, they took forever, but by the time they got here it was all over bar the shouting. They didn't come to break up the fight at all.

"It was just chaos."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The woman said she was pleased to hear an arrest had been made.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Bay of Plenty Times

'All good': Tauranga flights resume after volcanic disruptions

12 May 02:00 AM
Sport

Battle of the Bridge: Who took the honours?

11 May 10:53 PM
Premium
Bay of Plenty Times

Concern 'patients will suffer' as practices with 46,000 enrolled switch funder

11 May 08:50 PM

One tiny baby’s fight to survive

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

'All good': Tauranga flights resume after volcanic disruptions

'All good': Tauranga flights resume after volcanic disruptions

12 May 02:00 AM

Flights have resumed at Tauranga Airport after ash cloud caused closure on Sunday.

Battle of the Bridge: Who took the honours?

Battle of the Bridge: Who took the honours?

11 May 10:53 PM
Premium
Concern 'patients will suffer' as practices with 46,000 enrolled switch funder

Concern 'patients will suffer' as practices with 46,000 enrolled switch funder

11 May 08:50 PM
Ash cloud from Whakaari/White Island cancels flights

Ash cloud from Whakaari/White Island cancels flights

11 May 07:50 PM
Connected workers are safer workers 
sponsored

Connected workers are safer workers 

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP