A Wanganui man kicked, spat, kneed, and tried to choke a police officer to avoid being arrested.
Zane Check was at a Wanganui address on May 3 when officers showed up and found him in the back shed. He was told he was under arrest for unrelated matters, but he disagreed.
"No I'm f***ing not," Check told the officer before putting his hands behind his back and making a break for it down a pathway at the back of the house.
Check's antics were brought to light in the Whanganui District Court on Tuesday, where he pleaded guilty to escaping lawful custody, resisting police, assaulting police, threatening to kill, and unrelated charges of driving while disqualified, dangerous driving, failing to remain stopped, and failing to stop for red and blue flashing lights.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Stephen Butler told the court how Check stumbled and fell as he fled police, but as the arresting officer tried to restrain him, Check grabbed the constable by the throat and began to squeeze.
He was then restrained by the other constable and was taken to the patrol car, but not before kicking, kneeing, and spitting at the officers, giving one of them a dead leg.
"I'm going to f***ing kill you ****," he told one of the officers.
Mr Butler described how the officer who was spat on had a "large blob of spit dripping on the back of his head".
The driving charges relate to an incident on January 19 last year when Check was driving along Dublin St with a disqualified licence. He was stopped by police for an expired registration, but drove away when the officer got out of their car.
Check then sped through town, at times driving on the wrong side of the road, and going the wrong way around a roundabout. While he slowed for several give way intersections, he was still going at such a speed he would not have been able to stop to avoid a collision, Mr Butler said.
Check headed towards the centre of town, driving at speeds of more than 90km/h. Police abandoned pursuit and later found him at his father's address. His explanation for the offending was that he was meeting someone and could not get disqualified longer.
Check was remanded until July 22 on bail for sentencing by Judge Dugald Matheson.