Man arrested after 'spitting attack' in park

Cornwall Park is a popular area with runners. Photo: Wikipedia
Cornwall Park is a popular area with runners. Photo: Wikipedia
A man has been arrested following a 'spitting attack' at a popular Auckland park.

A 41-year-old man was charged with two counts of common assault following an incident at One Tree Hill in Cornwall Park shortly after 10pm yesterday.

A man was approached by a male jogger who allegedly spat on him. A verbal dispute followed, and a second man intervened, who was then allegedly assaulted, police said.

The accused will appear in the Auckland District Court next week.

“Police continue to work with local communities to keep public areas safe, and encourage anyone who at any point feels unsafe to contact police at the time,” a spokesperson said.

The arrest comes after witness Jacinta Tamate told the Herald a jogger at the park got into a fight after he spat on another male jogger.

She said the drama started when she saw a fight break out between the two joggers.

“The other man was telling him not to spit,” she said.

The calls for help by the man being attacked eventually drew a crowd, who tried to block the jogger as he headed off to continue his evening run.

People at the scene told a Herald reporter that a man had been spitting on women in Cornwall Park and potentially Mission Bay for the last month or so.

Tamate said she had been coming to Cornwall Park for 15 years and hadn’t seen the jogger before - but that others gathering at the scene of the altercation said he had been regularly spitting on women over the past month.

 

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