The man, aged in his mid-20s, was discovered by police lying in the middle of the street close to the intersection of Vautier St and Dalton St at 4.45am on Saturday.
He was not injured and had not been run over, police said, but was "extremely drunk".
"When police woke him up, he did not realise he had fallen asleep on the road," Sergeant Andrew Graham said.
The man told officers he had spent all night drinking in town, and lived just a short distance from where he was found.
The officers took the man home, with a warning about the dangers of excessive alcohol consumption and the potential harm he placed himself in, Mr Graham said -- but not before they took a photo of him lying soundly asleep on the road.
"This is a classic example of what can happen when you drink too much and lose control of your faculties," Mr Graham said.
"This man could easily have been run over and luckily there was not a lot of traffic in the area at the time.
"He was so drunk he had no idea what he was doing. He was very lucky that one of our patrol cars just happened to come across him."
Statistics showed drunk people were often the victims of crime, particularly robberies and assaults, Mr Graham said.
"We say this time and time again and we will keep on saying it -- if you drink to excess you will end up putting yourself, or others, in danger. It's all about personal responsibility and keeping yourself safe."
NZME.
