A former game show host has been captured lashing out at police during a dramatic arrest.
Andrew O’Keefe, 52, previously hosted the Australian versions of The Chase and Deal or No Deal, as well as the weekend edition of breakfast programme Weekend Sunrise.
However, since 2021, he has appeared in court several times for drug and domestic violence offences.
Earlier this year he was found guilty of common assault, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, two counts of possessing a prohibited drug and contravening an apprehended violence order.
Now body-cam footage has been released by the court of him being arrested for a ‘violent and degrading’ assault.
O’Keefe was arrested at an apartment in Sydney following claims he’d assaulted a woman and contravened an AVO days before his arrest in September 2021.
He has since been sentenced over the breach and the assault, where he had kicked, pushed and spat on a woman, but is currently appealing his criminal convictions.
The arrest footage obtained by Nine News shows O’Keefe answering the door while in the middle of a psychiatrist appointment.
A clip of the footage shows police trying to arrest the former TV star while still inside his apartment as he starts yelling: ‘This is what happens when I don’t have my medication.’
‘This is a simple request. Why are you being f***ing nazis about it?’ he is heard saying while being handcuffed.
‘Why would I calm down when you’re doing this to me?’
While police take him into the lift, an officer can be heard telling O’Keefe his ‘attitude is not making things any better’.
#EXCLUSIVE: A court has released dramatic footage of Andrew O’Keefe’s 2021 domestic violence arrest that left him with a criminal record which he is now trying to overturn. @TiffGenders #9News pic.twitter.com/oaaSXthHQP
— 9News Sydney (@9NewsSyd) August 6, 2024
He then hits back: ‘Attitude? F**k you man, this is not attitude. This is justifiable and righteousness rage about the way I’m being treated.’
O’Keefe continues to tell the officers to ‘stop telling me to calm down’ as he is taken to the police car.
Inside the vehicle, O’Keefe speaks directly to the camera positioned in the vehicle.
‘Just for the sake of the camera, you will note that at every other time when they’re sticking my head against the wall and cuffing me, I’ve been very calm,’ he said.
The former TV presenter was later cleared of resisting arrest related to the 2021 incident caught on camera.
During his sentencing, a magistrate described O’Keefe’s assault as ‘violent and degrading’.
The footage was released on the same day he pleaded guilty to a single charge of driving with a suspended licence before Downing Centre Local Court on Tuesday.
The traffic offence is unrelated to the arrest footage released by the court.
Instead, he was charged following a routine traffic in the exclusive Sydney suburb of Bellevue Hill on June 20.
Representing himself in court, O’Keefe told Judge Michael Allen he was on his way to collect his licence when he was stopped by police that afternoon.
His licence had previously been revoked for failing to complete a driving education program.
While Judge Allen said the offence was ‘more minor’, he told O’Keefe he was ‘no stranger to this place in recent times, albeit for more serious offending’.
Instead of being convicted of the offence, he was sentenced to a 12-month conditional release order.
O’Keefe is also facing charges of driving while suspended and of intimidation following an unrelated incident last month.
He is yes to enter any pleas and will next appear in court later this month to find out the result of his appeal on the string of domestic violence and drug-related offences.
Speaking to media outside court, O’Keefe said he ‘hoped’ his life was ‘up from here’.
During his TV career, O’Keefe also fronted shows including Dragons’ Den and quiz show The Rich List.
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He hasn’t been seen on screens since 2020, a year before his first run in with the law.
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