Police officer takes down man with gun

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Senior Constable Michael Moorhouse wasn’t sure what to expect when he was called to a job in suburban Nelson last November — but it certainly wasn’t to be confronted with a man holding a loaded gun in his direction.

Michael was called to the job where he was told a man was suicidal.

He forced open the garage door of the house only to find the man had moved behind another door. When he smashed that down, he saw a man standing in front of him with a gun pointed in his direction.

“You go to these jobs often but you just have to work through things in your head on the way there. ‘What am I going to do if this happens, or if that happens?’ I’ve been a police officer for 19 years so you just rely on your training.”

For Michael, it meant lunging at the man before he could fire the gun.

After tackling the man to the ground and wrestling the gun off him, Michael was then able to take stock.

“After he was restrained I looked in the chamber and there was a bullet in there. I thought, ‘oh, that could have ended differently’.”

Michael was awarded the District Commander’s Commendation at the Nelson Police Station last Friday for his role in the incident.

Area commander Mat Arnold-Kelly says the pay parade, as they’re known, is a good opportunity to recognise the efforts of police officers.

“It’s not an easy job at times, it can be a challenging job with huge demand. There’s good and bad, but this is the good.”

Pegeen O’Rourke-Harris was given the Comissioner’s Commendation for her work in family violence.

Constable Charlotte Donaldson receives her Australia G20 Citation Clasp from superintendent Stephen Kehoe at the Nelson Police STation last Friday. Photo: Andrew Board.
Constable Charlotte Donaldson receives her Australia G20 Citation Clasp from superintendent Stephen Kehoe at the Nelson Police STation last Friday. Photo: Andrew Board.

Constables Stephen Berkett and Charlotte Donaldson were awarded the Australia G20 Citation 2014 Clasp.

Constables Jamein Bristowe, Jesse Gaskell and Matthew Walker were awarded the New Zealand Police Diploma in Workplace Practice.

Senior constables Martin Bagnall, James Green, Graeme Hutching and constable Steven Muirhead were award a 14 year long service and good conduct medal.

Sergeant Nigel McMorran was awarded a 21 year long service and good conduct clasp, and retired senior sergeant Eric Davy was given a certificate of service for his 42 years in the police service.