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According to the smh.com.au website, Police say a drunk Collins, 32, threw a half-eaten kebab on the ground "a couple of metres" from the arresting officers on the night of Sunday, August 11.
The arrest came about 18 hours after staff at Wellington Hospital called security to remove Collins from the emergency department, because he was abusing staff.
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Police handcuffed him and took him by car to Wellington central police station, but he was not charged and later released, police spokesperson Nick Bohm said on Monday.
"After the DHB (District Health Board) had him on Sunday morning, we also had him on Sunday night. He was arrested . . . outside Fix on the corner of Tory St and Courtenay Place.
"Originally they were picking him up for disorderly behaviour when he threw a half-eaten kebab on to the footpath outside the Fix store. He was intoxicated at the time, according to a report from the officers."
He was arrested at 22:22, and was picked up from the station later in the night, Bohm said.
"As there was no offence, we couldn't charge him. He was put in an interview room and waited for his friend to come and pick him up... He was apologetic and compliant."
Staff at the 24-hour Fix store confirmed Collins was seen speaking to police outside that night.
Bohm said Collins was also trespassed from a Courtenay Place takeaway the same night.
Collins' agent, lawyer Tim Castle, did not respond to requests for comment last night.
Two nights after his arrest, Collins was back on the town, at Zico Cucina & Bar in Courtenay Place, where he was described as speaking loudly and being in an exuberant frame of mind.
Staff reminded him he was in a restaurant and not a bar. A spokesperson for the restaurant said Collins left voluntarily without finishing his drink.
In March, Collins was arrested in Japan after entering a department store carrying two 17cm knives. He was freed from prison on March 27 after 10 days in custody, when he agreed to pay a fine.
In June, French businessman Mourad Boudjellal, owner of the Toulon rugby club for which Collins played before his stint in Japan, described the loose forward in an autobiography as a "madman" drinker.
Collins captained the All Blacks three times during a career that spanned 48 Tests.
