Detective Jeremy Toschi, NZBM for an act of bravery
Mid-afternoon on 10 May 2021, a man with a short kitchen knife in each hand attacked a staff member at a supermarket in central Dunedin, causing multiple wounds as she tried to defend herself. Several shoppers and staff in the busy supermarket attempted to restrain the offender during his frenzied attack, which occurred in little over a minute, with four people in total sustaining stab wounds. Off-duty Police officer, Detective Constable Jeremy Toschi (now Detective), was in the store at the time. He heard screaming from an aisle and ran towards it. Detective Constable Toschi encountered the offender being restrained by a staff member and members of the public. As Detective Constable Toschi approached, the offender broke free and stabbed a woman who was involved in the struggle. The offender then grabbed a man who intervened, stabbing him several times. Detective Constable Toschi grabbed items from the shelves and began throwing them at the offender to distract him, continuing to do so as he approached. He then grabbed a plastic chair and hit the offender with it, telling him to drop the knife. At this time, another off-duty Police officer, Constable Sophie Allison was attempting to restrain the offender by pinning him to the ground with the chair, assisted by another woman. The man who had been stabbed was entangled in the offender’s legs and Detective Constable Toschi dragged the man away to prevent further injury. As the offender was being restrained on the ground by Constable Allison and another woman, Detective Constable Toschi pushed one of the plastic chair legs onto the offender’s chest to attempt to get him to release the knife. The offender continued to struggle violently with knife in hand as those restraining him tried to disarm him, until eventually releasing it. Uniformed Police then arrived to arrest the offender. Detective Constable Toschi demonstrated bravery by entering the struggle with the offender without hesitation, helping to remove a wounded person and to restrain the offender to prevent further harm.