Video captures moment police arrest a wanted man after cat-and-mouse game at Paradise Island

Video has captured the moment a Surfers Paradise enclave became the scene of a high-stakes cat-and-mouse game, as police sought to nab an alleged DV offender on a warrant before cornering him on a roof.

A small residential island at Surfers Paradise ground to a halt after a man subject to a warrant related to alleged domestic violence offending played a high-stakes cat-and-mouse game with pursuing police before he was finally cornered on a roof.

The arrest occurred at Paradise Island, which neighbours the larger Isle of Capri, at approximately 5.30pm Monday.

Queensland Police said in a brief statement the man, who is believed to be aged in his forties, was subject to a warrant.

“This relates to the arrest of a man wanted on outstanding warrants in relation to domestic and family violence offences,” a spokesman said.

“As such, we won’t be providing any further details on this incident.”

Police arrest a wanted man at Surfers Paradise's Paradise Island on the afternoon of Monday, July 28, 2025. Picture: Supplied

According to a resident of the island, police arrived at about 4.30pm but were forced into a cat-and-mouse game as the wanted man, who she believed to be affected by drugs, evaded capture.

“He was jumping many fences all over Paradise Island to elude the police officers,” she said. “I began recording at 5.25pm, but they had already been searching for him for at least an hour.

“He was high on drugs, which is probably what gave him the energy and ability to scale fences and climb to the roof.”

The resident said police were aided in their search by a woman, who she believed was related to the wanted man.

Police arrest a wanted man at Surfers Paradise's Paradise Island on the afternoon of Monday, July 28, 2025. Picture: Supplied

“In the end, I could hear him yell out from the paddy wagon, ‘I love you’,” the resident said.

Videos and images supplied to this masthead by the resident depict a number of officers hoisting a ladder to allow the cornered man to descend from his rooftop hiding place, before two policeman frogmarch him into the back of the waiting divvy van.

The resident said the occupants whose house the wanted man had climbed onto “didn’t even know [he was] there”.

It was an eagle-eyed police officer who finally spotted their target in his elevated hiding place, the resident added.

Originally published as Video captures moment police arrest a wanted man after cat-and-mouse game at Paradise Island