Video has emerged of a man being held to the ground by two police officers while one appears to be throwing punches, after he allegedly robbed an Auckland bakery.
It was filmed in an alleyway in Northcote on Sunday, and two young children can be seen watching in the background.
It has attracted attention since being posted to Facebook and police have responded in a public statement with details about the incident.
At 4:00pm on Sunday the 17-year-old offender was arrested after robbing Northcote Bakery, according to police.
He was wearing a cap and a bandana over his face and was armed with a large glass bottle, and demanded money from a pregnant shop worker, North Shore police inspector area commander Sunny Patel said.
She handed over $50 and felt "threatened and shaken", police were then called and viewed CCTV footage of the robbery.
While searching the area officers saw a man who fitted the footage, he ran away and so they chased him for nearly a kilometre until reaching the alleyway that is seen in the video.
"Police at this time saw that he still held the bottle that had been used in the robbery. The offender continued to hold the heavy glass bottle. As can be seen in the video, there were children around at the time and the two staff were faced with a large, armed and dangerous offender who had just carried out a robbery on a pregnant woman," Mr Patel said.
"The officers managed to get the offender onto the ground, but he continued to refuse to comply with instructions to move his arms out from under him and continued to try and reach for something in his pockets and his waistband."
The offender has been charged with robbery and was due to appear in the North Shore District Court on Monday.
"It is a reality of policing that people will sometimes resist arrest in a violent and dangerous manner and when this happens our officers are required to use force to ensure both the public and our staff are kept safe. These officers have chased, apprehended and disarmed a violent and armed offender who has just robbed a pregnant woman," Mr Patel said.
Newshub.
