Faye Carroll, of Dannevirke Community Patrol, said she had been told the paver had been loose for some time and complaints had been made to Tararua District Council.
She said a contractor had told her some cones had previously been put up to warn people of the issue, but she had never seen any.
Dannevirke Police Constable Dayna Mercer was patrolling the area at the time and spoke to council about the incident.
"It's a bit of a wake-up call," she said, adding that the council needed to keep a closer eye on the paths to prevent the same thing happening again.
Council infrastructure manager Chris Chapman said requests had been received regarding the unstable paver.
"These were assigned to Tararua Alliance staff who had planned permanent repairs [regrouting] to be actioned via a subcontractor, which was subsequently delayed."
Chapman said the area had been coned off to indicate the issue but those were moved, possibly by members of the public.
He said the site had been left in an unsafe standard.
"The Tararua Alliance, and council as part of this, has not met expectations, our own and those of our community, in the response to this fault and keeping members of our public safe.
"We wholeheartedly apologise for the harm this has caused and a review of the incident and associated processes is underway to prevent a similar incident reoccurring."
