A police officer was whacked with an umbrella after asking a woman not to eat unopened food from store shelves yesterday.
Senior Sergeant Anthony Bond, of Dunedin, said police were called to BP in Andersons Bay Rd at 12.30pm after a woman refused to leave after being asked to by staff.
The 59-year-old woman entered the store and started to open and eat multiple items of food in the petrol station without paying.
When the BP staff asked her to leave, she refused, and police were called.
The woman still refused to leave when asked by police and while they were speaking to her, she whacked the officer with an umbrella, Snr Sgt Bond said.
She was arrested, charged with assaulting a police officer and will appear in court at a later date.
