{"id":614318,"date":"2026-04-18T04:09:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T04:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/614318\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T04:09:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T04:09:13","slug":"essendon-president-andrew-welsh-at-the-centre-of-chaotic-citizens-arrest-on-the-gold-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/614318\/","title":{"rendered":"Essendon president Andrew Welsh at the centre of \u2018chaotic\u2019 citizen\u2019s arrest on the Gold Coast"},"content":{"rendered":"

Essendon<\/a> president Andrew Welsh performed an incredible citizens arrest on Friday night on the Gold Coast \u2014 just hours before the club\u2019s clash with the Gold Coast Suns<\/a>.<\/p>\n

7NEWS understands Welsh was dining with Essendon CEO Tim Roberts and club sponsors in Broadbeach as a white Ford ranger ute ploughed through a nearby bus stop.<\/p>\n

Welsh rushed to the scene to assess any damage and any potential injuries to onlookers on the busy Surf Parade strip.<\/p>\n

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today Arrow<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s there he found a single car crash and a male attempting to break from the car and flee the scene.<\/p>\n

Welsh then grabbed the driver and tackled him to the ground.<\/p>\n

With assistance from another bystander, the pair pinned the male to the ground in front of stunned onlookers before police could arrive.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe ute came to a stop when it smashed into a light pole. Credit: Supplied<\/p>\n

The incident happened on Surf Parade near Charles Avenue in Broadbeach at about 7.30pm.<\/p>\n

The man was then handcuffed, placed in the back of a police van, and treated by paramedics.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen we saw people running over to the bus stop,\u201d a witness told News Corp<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were two people who performed a citizen\u2019s arrest and had their knees on his back.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an extremely chaotic scene but the police arrived within minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow no one was in the path of the ute blows my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"WelshWelsh checked on any potential injuries to onlookers before he grabbed the driver and tackled him to the ground. Credit: Getty<\/p>\n

Welsh played 162 games for the Bombers between 2002 and 2011.<\/p>\n

The respected property developer joined the Essendon board in 2022 and was annointed president of his club in September last year.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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3 min read<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Essendon president Andrew Welsh performed an incredible citizens arrest on Friday night on the Gold Coast \u2014 just…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":614319,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[638,11231,43,1625,44,3863,588,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-614318","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-essendon-bombers","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-lifestyle","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-sponsored-content","14":"tag-sport","15":"tag-top-news","16":"tag-top-stories","17":"tag-topnews","18":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=614318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/614319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=614318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=614318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=614318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}