By Hamish MacLean for the Otago Daily Times
A patched Mongrel Mob member is licking his wounds in Dunedin Hospital after being bitten by a police dog following a dramatic car chase.
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Last night, after refusing to stop for police, the 30-year-old Invercargill man learned the hard way that police dog handlers were "highly motivated" to target and apprehend high-profile offenders, Sergeant Mike Calvert of Dunedin said.
"It was good team work - but there were four dog handlers there," he said. "Police dogs have a unique ability to target and apprehend offenders."
In this case, after he allegedly drove his car over road spikes, the mob member was nabbed last night - unable to climb a fence before suffering bite wounds when he ran from his vehicle.
He ran for all of 300m before he was arrested by the dog handlers, Calvert said.
The driver was spotted in what police believed to be a stolen car about 11.10pm in central Dunedin just as four dog handlers had just finished a dog training day.
He failed to stop in central Dunedin, and continued through Mornington before ending up in Kaikorai Valley, Green Island and Corstorphine.
Police in Playfair St deployed road spikes, which initially did not stop the car.
The driver continued along South Rd until the car became undriveable on Glen Rd.
"As he decamped, the police dogs apprehended him as he was going over the fence trying to get on to the motorway."
He was wanted on "numerous" charges, but would now also face a raft of driving charges, Calvert said.
- This story first appeared in The Otago Daily Times