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Coronavirus: NZ cops follow driver home to stop lockdown breach

When New Zealand cops threatened to follow a driver to the supermarket, things got heated and it was captured on video.

Things get heated when NZ cops threaten to follow this driver to the supermarket

A furious motorist has filmed his argument with New Zealand police, as they questioned him about why he was outside amid the country’s strict lockdown policy.

The driver and his passenger were stopped by police in a suburban street in New Zealand last week. The pair told police they were going to the supermarket but the police didn’t buy it.

The officers then seized the driver's licence and continued to question the pair about where they were going.

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These cops threatened to follow a man to the grocery store and then home to ensure he was telling the truth.
These cops threatened to follow a man to the grocery store and then home to ensure he was telling the truth.

New Zealand has been under strict level four lockdown rules, which means residents are banned from leaving their homes for anything but essential reasons, such as grocery shopping, medical care and exercise.

The police officers planned to escort the pair to the supermarket and home again to ensure lockdown measures were followed.

This driver had his licence taken off him but was then told to drive anyway.
This driver had his licence taken off him but was then told to drive anyway.

The men questioned the cops’ decision to hold onto the driver’s licence.

“Do you want us to drive without a licence?” the passenger can be heard asking.

One of the officer countered this, telling him it's not an offence to drive without a licence but it is an offence to not be able to produce it.

“So you're telling us to break the law basically?” the passenger presses.

This was the passenger who filmed the incident.
This was the passenger who filmed the incident.

“Which supermarket are we going to? We'll follow you there and we'll follow you back to your home address,” the other officer says.

The pair can then be heard laughing before they tell the officers that this interaction is making them not want to go shopping anymore.

The officer then questions why they’d had a change of heart.

The passenger then pulls out a shopping list to prove his intentions.

The motorist is then told he can either drive to the supermarket or he will be under arrest for a lockdown breach.

“I'm going to the supermarket, but you won't give us our licence,” the passenger says, summing up the catch-22 they now face.

Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/world/pacific/coronavirus-nz-cops-follow-driver-home-to-stop-lockdown-breach/news-story/f5ab3fb98a1599f01a3a4acda2532f0a