A man put his hands around the throat of a Dunedin police officer and started to choke him while two officers were attending a domestic incident at a South Dunedin house at the weekend, police said.
The experienced constable was not hurt in the incident, and did not require medical attention, but it was another example of how people were recently becoming more likely to "give it a crack" when dealing with officers, Acting Senior Sergeant Paul McLaughlan said yesterday.
Earlier this month, four Dunedin police officers were assaulted in one weekend, with two of them badly injured.
The 40-year-old man involved in the latest incident was arrested and charged with assaulting a female, assaulting police and resisting police.
The incident was one of the more serious in a disorder-filled weekend in Dunedin in which 54 people were arrested.
The Fire Service attended three rubbish fires in the student area.
Sgt McLaughlan compared the weekend with how busy it usually was when a rugby test match was being held in Dunedin.
Twenty-five extra police were rostered on to cope with the 14,000 people expected in the city for the Nitro Circus event at Carisbrook and the return of tertiary students.
He said those attending the event were relatively well behaved, with most of those picked up by police being students and mostly for disorderly behaviour.
"It was definitely a significant number [of arrests]."
Some of those brought in to the cells had been charged, while others were referred directly to the University of Otago's proctor.
Extra police are rostered on for the next few weeks during Orientation.
University of Otago director of student services David Richardson said before the weekend 21 students had been seen by the proctor, who visited eight flats where there had been some disorder.
The proctor had visited nine flats by the same stage last year.
"Overall, we have noticed a good atmosphere in North Dunedin and the vast majority of students have been well behaved."
