The sudden death of Rotorua harbourmaster David Pilkington is being investigated by police.
Mr Pilkington, 64, died on Friday night and Detective Sergeant Garry Hawkins of the Rotorua CIB said police were treating his death as suspicious.
Mr Hawkins said an Auckland man had been spoken to by police after an incident
at the Lake Okataina boat ramp at about 8 pm on Friday night.
He said he believed just before Mr Pilkington died he and a lakes' inspector had spoken to a man who had allegedly been boating without navigation lights.
A heated verbal exchange allegedly ended in Mr Pilkington being struck by the man, causing him to fall backwards onto a tarsealed area of the carpark, Mr Hawkins said.
"We suspect he had a heart attack but (his death) could have been caused by other things which the post mortem will show," he said.
A post mortem was to be carried out on Mr Pilkington's body today.
Rotorua police want to hear from anyone who saw the alleged incident involving the harbourmaster and the lakes' inspector. Both were wearing overalls.
Mr Hawkins also urged anyone who saw other disturbances on the lake on Friday night involving a Pakeha man aged in his 50s with a dog to contact the Rotorua police.
Mr Pilkington had worked for the Rotorua District Council since 1992 where he started as a hydatids control officer in the animal control section.
- DAILY POST (ROTORUA)
