Camera crash disrupts TV interview
Covid modeller Professor Shaun Hendy was being interviewed live on TVNZ yesterday afternoon when shrieks could be heard from people in the street and the camera was knocked over.
A topless child could be seen in shot running behind Hendy just before the camera toppled over.
TVNZ presenter Wendy Petrie gasped and said: “Oh, I’m very sorry, are you okay? . . . Okay, that wasn’t good. I hope that the cameraman is okay.”
Petrie told viewers that Hendy and the camera operator were not hurt.
“We don’t like to see these sorts of things, it’s not what any of us need at this time,” Petrie said.
Hendy later told the Spinoff news website that a young man, swearing, “came around from behind me and barrelled into the camera and another woman”.
“He had no reason to think there was any targeted motivation on the part of the attacker,” the Spinoff
reported.
In a tweet, Hendy said it was a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
At 5.30pm, four police cars and an ambulance were at the scene. Ambulance staff were taking away a female bystander. The camera operator — Nick Dooner — appeared to be fine.
TVNZ last night told the Herald:
“An individual ran through a 1 News
live cross just before 5pm today. Our
1 News cameraman and a member of the public were both pushed to the ground.
“Our cameraman is being attended to by ambulance staff and everyone is okay. The police are also present.
“We have no reason to believe this was specifically directed at our news team, nor was it anti-vaccination or anti-lockdown related.”
A man at a nearby dairy told the Herald there had been a separate, unrelated incident and the man involved crashed through the camera set-up.
Police received a report saying two people were assaulted on Francis St in Grey Lynn just before 5pm.
Police confirmed the camera operator fell on the ground after being pushed and received a minor injury. However, his camera was damaged.
An elderly woman was also pushed and fell to the ground. She was taken to hospital and has moderate injuries.
Police said a youth was found and was being dealt with by officers.