Christchurch police dog handler’s car stolen: Man appears in court

A 28-year-old man has been arrested in relation to the theft of a police car in Christchurch on Saturday morning. Photo / File

A man arrested after the theft of a police car appeared in court this morning and has been remanded in custody.

The vineyard worker, 28, is accused of stealing a dog handler’s car after he was bitten by a police dog in Christchurch on Saturday morning and was allegedly on the run over the weekend.

The officer’s ID card and petrol card were also stolen in the process.

It sparked a city-wide hunt for the man.

A number of search warrants were carried out on Monday morning and the man was found.

He was arrested and appeared at Christchurch District Court from custody via audio visual link (AVL) this morning on several charges, including unlawfully taking the handler’s $30,000 Holden Equinox, stealing a police officer’s cellphone and wallet valued at $400, escaping from police custody, dangerous driving on Blenheim Rd, failure to stop for police when signalled and unlawfully getting into another vehicle. He also faces several other outstanding charges on unrelated matters.

A duty lawyer said no application for bail – which would’ve been opposed by police - was being made but asked for interim name suppression so the man can seek a lawyer and inform his family of his predicament.

Community magistrate Sally O’Brien granted interim name suppression and remanded the man in custody without plea to December 14 when he is expected to enter pleas.

Today, police spoke to the Herald about staff having to make “decisions around a number of factors at any job including whether the police vehicle needs to remain running”.

“In a lot of cases, police vehicles are required to be left running for long periods, to run red and blue lights, and radios when at critical incidents or road crashes,” a police spokeswoman said.

“We trust our staff to make those decisions on a case-by-case basis depending on the requirements of the job they are attending.

“Our later Holden models and Skoda vehicles have ATIS (Anti-Theft Ignition System) installed, which prevents a vehicle being stolen if the key fob is with the officer.”

The man had suffered a dog bite after allegedly earlier stealing another car but he managed to evade arrest, police said, before getting in the police dog handler’s car, which had been left running.

He then allegedly drove it away.

Other police cars pursued the man for a short time but lost sight of the stolen car, police said.

Two other police vehicles also collided, causing minor damage to the vehicles.

The dog handler’s car was found abandoned on Sheppard Place in St Albans about 8.05am - about 15 minutes after it was allegedly taken.

“The incident will be subject to a district review,” a police spokeswoman said yesterday.