A man’s attempt to hide from police spectacularly failed when he fell through the ceiling of a Christchurch restaurant early Saturday morning.

CBK Craft Bar and Kitchen Ferrymead owner Shelly Trigg told Chris Lynch, she received a call from a security company at 5AM saying all of the restaurant’s sensors were going off.

“My daughter looked at the security cameras on our cell phone and sure enough, a man broke into the restaurant and was trying to get into the safe.

I thought, good luck with that, the safe is about 150 years old, you’ll never win.”

Shelly called police and drove to the restaurant on Humphreys Drive, while her daughter relayed the offender’s location back to the police.

“He jumped the fence and went into the courtyard area, and managed to jimmy open a window while smashing all the latches.

When we arrived, we couldn’t believe it – the man was still in the restaurant, but there was nowhere for him to escape as the place was surrounded by police.

We were told to keep our distance from the restaurant as police weren’t sure if the man was alone, or if there were others with him.”

After helping himself to a can of Fanta, the man soon realised the restaurant was surrounded by officers.

“He tried to hide in the chiller, but when he realised it was either too cold or there was no way out, he made his way to the kitchen.”

Shelly said at this point they lost him on the security cameras. “I said to police, he must be hiding in the ceiling, and that’s exactly where the idiot was – at least for a short time.”

His attempt to evade officers didn’t last long as he fell through the tiles, landing across three benches, and smashing a number of plates.

Shelly said when he was arrested by police dog handlers, he was quite violent, spitting and swearing at police.

“He yelled for an ambulance, but he was being dramatic as there was nothing physically wrong with him.

The man tried to steal bottles of whiskey and bourbon, but at least we got them back, although he stole money from the tip jar.”

Shelly said she wanted to raise awareness of what was happening in the city.

“It’s getting out of hand this sort of crime. We’ve had enough hard times over the past three years to be dealing with this.”

Shelly said the police were wonderful but she was frustrated when they told her the offender was “well-known” to them.

It was the second burglary in three years at the restaurant.

“I don’t know why people bother. Most restaurants don’t keep any cash on their premises, and that’s mainly because no one pays by cash these days.”

A police spokesman confirmed a man was arrested shortly after 5am.

The 25-year-old is due to appear in Christchurch District Court today, facing a charge of burglary.