A 34-year-old man from Gore was arrested and charged with four assaults of varying degrees after he allegedly attacked two couples outside the Gibbston Summer Concert on Saturday.
Sergeant Blair Duffy, of Queenstown, said yesterday the ''heavily intoxicated man'' was walking in the middle of State Highway 6, towards Cromwell, at 4.45pm.
A Christchurch couple, the man aged 53 years and the woman aged 55 years, were making adjustments to the trailer of their parked vehicle when they saw the man and advised him to get out of the way of traffic on the 100kmh-zoned road for his own safety.
The Gore man ''became aggressive and assaulted these people in what can be viewed as an unprovoked, yet serious assault'', Sgt Duffy said.
The man walked a further 200m towards Cromwell before confronting a second couple, from Dunedin, who were walking to their parked vehicle. The man was 70 and the woman 68.
St John Queenstown station manager and event commander Craig Downing said yesterday the Christchurch couple were treated at the medical centre on the site of the concert.
The woman was taken to Lakes District Hospital, Frankton, ''to exclude underlying fractures'' while the man was treated for minor abrasions.
Police understood the couple returned to Christchurch yesterday and the woman would consult her doctor, Sgt Duffy said.
St John was not aware its staff treated the Dunedin couple, Mr Downing said.
