A man was shot in the face and 24 arrests made after a violent gang brawl in the Hawke's Bay town of Wairoa this morning.

Armed police remain on alert after a gang confrontation in Wairoa last night ended with a man being shot in the face.

Bar patrons took a drunk man outside because they thought he was about to vomit, not realising he was choking on a pie, the coroner has found.

Guy Sainsbury came across a group of people who had seen a vehicle 80m down a bank, and decided to look around the area himself.

Two men who died in a microlight crash in Hawke's Bay last year were over three times the legal blood alcohol limit, an investigation has found.

A man successfully sues a farmer for more than $5000 after his car was written off when it hit a calf.