{"id":573574,"date":"2026-08-19T08:16:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T08:16:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/573574\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T08:16:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T08:16:15","slug":"quick-thinking-cop-intercepts-stolen-dirt-bike-rider-in-wellington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/573574\/","title":{"rendered":"Quick-thinking cop intercepts stolen dirt bike rider in Wellington"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  [&amp;_p]:tit-sub-xl tit-sub-xl md:[&amp;_p]:d-tit-sub-xl md:d-tit-sub-xl mb-[1.3rem]\">A joyriding dirtbiker was caught when a Wellington police officer guessed his next moves.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">NZ Police said an officer was headed to work at the Wellington maritime base Monday when he heard reports of the two dirt bikers headed down Taranaki St.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Police said the officer then guessed the rider&#8217;s likely route and positioned himself to intercept. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">On coming face-to-face with the officer, the dirt bikers attempted to U-turn, leading one to fall from his bike.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/a-dirt-bike-recovered-by-police-in-wellington-LJ3MPYKMCRCLBJ46J25PX54L3Y.jpg\" alt=\"A dirt bike recovered by police in Wellington.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" loading=\"eager\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"ImageMetadata__MetadataParagraph-sc-hi5x8q-0 cWTYyG image-metadata\">A dirt bike recovered by police in Wellington. (Source: NZ Police)<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">The out-of-control vehicle then crashed into a concrete bollard near some bystanders. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">The rider tried to escape on foot, but was chased and caught by the officer on Customhouse Quay. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Inspector Paul Hamlyn said it was a fortunate outcome and the motorcycle could be returned to its owner.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">A 31-year-old is due to appear at Wellington District Court on August 24 on charges of unlawfully getting on a motorcycle, driving in a dangerous manner, and failing to stop when required. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Police said further inquiries were ongoing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A joyriding dirtbiker was caught when a Wellington police officer guessed his next moves. NZ Police said an&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":573575,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[67,42,43,40,38,41,39,52],"class_list":["post-573574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-crime-and-justice","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-wellington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=573574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/573575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=573574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=573574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=573574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}