Cop stops mid-speech to tackle man to the ground for harassing teen girl at press conference (VIDEO)

An Australian police officer is being praised for his fast response and impressive tackling technique after he interrupted a press conference to take down a man accused of harassing a young woman.

Detective Senior Sergeant Daren Edwards was in the middle of speaking to reporters outside a Queensland police station on Wednesday, when he heard another man angrily yelling “you better run!”

The quick-thinking cop stopped mid-sentence, turned to see the supposed perpetrator running toward him and dove for the man’s ankles, taking him to the ground. Four police officers later appeared to arrest the man, who was allegedly making inappropriate comments to a young woman.

Raw footage of the conference showed the man actually appeared on camera before the dramatic twist, seizing the moment to tell the sergeant that he disapproves of the police. It also later transpired the man had just been released for being a public nuisance, the same charge that he was then re-arrested for.

“I just came out from here,” the man said as he was led back to the precinct. “Well you’re going back in,” the arresting officer replied.

Det Snr Sgt Edwards suffered grazes to his head and a few marks on his suit from the scuffle, but the latter was “ready for a dry-clean anyway,” he remarked.

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