Auckland mayoral candidate Craig Lord and his son have ended up in hospital after an altercation with a "drunk and/or heavy on drugs" driver near their home in Blockhouse Bay.
Lord posted about the incident on his Facebook page on Saturday night, saying he heard a car up the road from his house doing "mad wheel spins in the rain".
"I watched it rip past my place, lose control, sideswipe my neighbour's parked car and drive off," Lord wrote on Facebook.
"The car he hit is a write-off and I feel for her because she works in Panmure."
Lord said he went to talk to his neighbours when the altercation began.
"So I go for a walk knocking on neighbourhood doors to find where it came from before I ring the police - and coincidentally as I was knocking on his door he comes running up the driveway," Lord said.
"He was drunk and/or heavy on drugs and had come running from his wreck around the corner. (Which I didn’t know he had wrecked at the time).
"I asked if it was his car. He responded with a swing.
"Anyway, I wasn't going to let that happen again so I took him down - hard. Let's just say the ratio of hits was in my favour."
Lord said his wife saw the altercation unfold and called police while he, his son and two neighbours "struggled" to hold the man down.
"The guy was raging. I dunno if it was just booze or if he was also drugged up.
"Four of us struggled to hold him down while we waited for the police," Lord wrote.
The group helped cuff the alleged offender who was taken away, Lord said.
"It took some work. The asshole could've killed someone but thankfully he only destroyed two cars and a power pole," Lord wrote.
Lord, who posted a photo of his bloodied face as a result of the altercation, said he had a new "battle scar" and was "proud as hell" of his son.
"So I have a new battle scar which is likely to be permanent, along with bruised ribs and scratches," Lord wrote.
"My boy has some bruises and tender ribs but I’m proud as hell of him and now he has better stories for work. It’s a Harry Potter scar!"
The pair were taken to hospital by paramedics, despite Lord's protests he would miss the Super Rugby final.
Lord is slightly behind the leading contenders in the latest poll of the Auckland Mayor candidates, which was released on Friday.
The Ratepayers' Alliance-Curia mayoral poll has Efeso Collins and Leo Molloy each on 21.7 percent, while Heart of the City chief executive Viv Beck is on 20.5 percent. Businessman Wayne Brown was slightly behind Beck on 20.1 percent and freelance media operator Lord was on 16 percent.
Police said officers were called to a Blockhouse Bay address at about 4:50pm on Saturday after an altercation was reported - and at least one person was allegedly assaulted.
"A 21-year-old man was arrested and faces charges of willful damage, assault, careless driving and excess breath alcohol. He is set down for court in Auckland on June 23."
