How two police officers caught NZ massacre suspect

With a knee to the chest, a rifle-butt in the face and a violent drag along the footpath, two cops stopped Brenton Tarrant’s massacre. Video footage emerged of the dramatic arrest showing officers dragging him from his car and disarming him.

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With a knee to the chest, a rifle-butt in the face and a violent drag along the footpath, two country cops finally stopped Brenton Tarrant’s massacre.

New footage last night showed the moments after police stopped Tarrant’s car on a Christchurch street by ramming it, dragging him from the vehicle and disarming him.

While New Zealand police on patrol do not routinely carry firearms, they reportedly came straight from a training session on how to deal with armed offenders.

Two local New Zealand police officers drag Brenton Tarrant along a footpath as they arrest him. Picture: Supplied

Tarrant is pushed face-first on to the footpath. Picture: Supplied

The two officers who pulled Tarrant from the vehicle had travelled into Christchurch to attend the session at the Princess Margaret Hospital in Cashmere, according to The New Zealand Herald.

Tarrant’s smirking face can be clearly seen in the footage, captured by a motorist in traffic on Moorehouse Ave, after the ­killer fled the second mosque.

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Watching the scenario unfold in front of him — while running errands for work — one witness, a Christchurch-born man who wished to remain anonymous, captured the commotion on his mobile while traffic slowed to watch along Moorehouse Ave.

“I didn’t realise what was happening. It all happened so fast,” the witness said.

“My initial thought was ‘why is this guy rolling around on the ground … and why is he wearing that type of clothing’.

“Seeing an assault rifle in the hand of a cop was weird enough … I didn’t realise the gravity of the situation until I got back to work.”

The officers subdue Tarrant before taking him into custody. Picture: Supplied

The cops rammed Tarrant’s car before pulling him out. Picture: Supplied

The witness, who commended police on their fast work at capturing the Tarrant, said the mass shooting had rattled the South Island city, which had already faced a number of devastating earthquakes in recent years.

“I’m at a loss for words,” he said.

“You see thing kind of thing in the media, happening around the world, but you never think it’s going to happen in your own back yard.

“It’s a hate crime and it’s devastating.

“It’s alarming to think that if it can happen here with 400,000 people, who’ve had a pretty bad run with earthquakes, it can happen anywhere.”