Driver blames heat for losing cool

A Hastings motorist has blamed the Bay's hot weather for threatening a police officer who pulled him over.

After he was stopped for driving with an unrestrained passenger on January 2, freezing worker Phillip Ross Moa, 49, told a constable to run a background check to see what he did to the last police officer he dealt with.

The Hastings District Court heard Moa's continual abuse of the constable agitated his three passengers, who also exited the car and confronted the officer on Grays Rd in Hastings.

Police summaries showed he then threatened to call his friends to the scene.

He was later arrested and charged with disorderly behaviour.

Moa later told police it was simply a hot day and admitted things had got out of hand.

His lawyer, Eric Forster, said his client had "lost his cool" and accepted violence towards police was "a hot topic" at the moment.

Judge Geoff Rea said the heat was no excuse for such behaviour.

"It's not a good time to come before the courts with charges stemming from misbehaving before police," the judge said.

"Police have enough to put up with.

"To behave in this way is simply not on."