Police arrest wanted woman after being rescued from Mahurangi river mud

An Auckland woman wanted by police was arrested this afternoon after being trapped in mud on a river bank.

A passerby called emergency services after seeing the plight of the woman on the banks of Auckland’s Mahurangi River.

Sergeant Major Roger Small, manager of the North Waitematā Rural Police, said the woman had apparently gone to collect shells along the riverbank in Lucy Moore Park when she began to cry.

Warkworth Volunteer Fire Brigade Fire Chief Devan Flewellyn said firefighters were called in to rescue the trapped woman around 1:15 p.m. Thursday.

“When we arrived, the tide was low and she was up to her thighs, almost to her waist, in the mud,” he said.

“But she managed to get out of her own accord. She was covered in mud, you know, like those baths in Rotorua, it looked like that.

“We had to get the hose out and give him a shower. So we gave him a hose and a blanket to warm up.”

Later, police took over and found that the man accompanying the soaked woman had existing arrest warrants, Small said.

“Then it was established that the woman also had an arrest warrant,” he said.

The couple were taken to the Henderson Police Station and will appear in court tomorrow.