Covid 19 coronavirus: Cops kept busy by drunken behaviour

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Some Dunedin people took the move to alert level 1 as an excuse to get "rat-faced", which led to a busy weekend for police.

Alcohol-fuelled violence ramped up and led to a string of arrests, Senior Sergeant Craig Dinnissen said.

An argument over a game of pool led to two men fighting outside Dunedin's Baaa Bar, at 9.15pm on Friday.

While police were attending the scene, another fight begun between two men inside the bar.

Police also attended three other fights over the weekend, including the arrest of a 32-year-old man who wrestled another man to the ground, punching him in the head several times, at 9.30pm on Saturday.

He is due to appear in Dunedin District Court today.

Later that morning, a 39-year-old man spat on a police officer's face while being charged with disorder.

He was seen getting into the driver's seat of a car parked in the Octagon while drunk.

When questioned by police, the man shouted racial abuse at the officers and was arrested for disorder.

Snr Sgt Dinnissen said the man was also charged with assault of a police officer and was found to have a small amount of drugs on him.

An 18-year-old man, who was frustrated that his phone would not log on to use a lime scooter, began throwing scooters onto Fredrick St.

He was arrested for disorder.

A drunk learner driver crashed into several cars, in King Edward St, causing major traffic congestion.

The 26-year-old man was arrested and there were no injuries.

The slip in behaviour seemed to go hand-in-hand with the ease in Covid-19 restrictions.

"From the release of level 2 into level 1 people have been out there and hit it with vengeance ... we talked about how good people had been during Covid, but then to let their standards slip and just get rat-faced is really disappointing," Snr Sgt Dinnissen said.