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hot pursuit
Australian police officer breaks off from press conference to rugby tackle man to the ground
The man was later charged with unlawful stalking.
A POLICE PRESS conference in Australia took an arresting turn when the speaker – a senior detective – suddenly chased after a suspect and tackled him to the ground.
Detective Sergeant Daren Edwards was addressing the press on the lawn of a police station on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast when he heard the ruckus of a man being chased by an angry father.
“He’s been inappropriate to my daughter,” the father shouted as Edwards, a former rugby league player, made a beeline for the suspect and felled him with a well-timed tackle.
“I dropped the shoulder and tackled him,” Edwards later explained to local media, nursing a slight cut to his head.
The suspect, who identified himself as Laszlo, was eventually restrained and handcuffed by several officers while crying out for help.
“I did nothing… I said nothing to her! I just came out from the court,” he said as local news crews looked on.
A 39-year-old was later charged with unlawful stalking.
The 19-year-old woman told 9News:
He just asked me if I was single, saying that I was beautiful, and he was going to buy me stuff. I just told him to go away and I wasn’t interested.
The man had earlier interrupted the same press conference to complain about the police, prompting Edwards to issue a prophetic rebuttal: “You’ll get your day in court.”
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