CONSTABLE BLINDED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 102, 2 May 1931, Page 3 (Supplement)

CONSTABLE BLINDED.

PEPPER THROWN IN FACE. ATTACK BY CAR THIEVES. A gang of would-be car thieves flung a bag of .pepper into the eyes of a London policeman. They blinded him, and so grave were his injuries that for some time afterwards it was feared that the policeman might lose his sight. The policeman—P.O. Arthur Attridge, aged.2l—was patrolling in Linden Road, Muswell Hill, just before dawn when he saw suspicious lights and heard noises from one of a number of lock-up garages. He drew his truncheon and went along to investigate. The garages are arranged in blocks, with narrow passage ways between them. As the policeman walked along one of the passage ways someone threw a paper bag filled with pepper in his face. The bag struck him between the eyes, and burst. He was blinded and suffering intense pain. He heard shouts and the footfalls of a number of men running away. With his hand to his face he staggered to the street. There he was helped by a passer-by and conducted to the police station. After treatment by the divisional surgeon, the policeman, whose condition was regarded as serious, was rushed to St. Thomas' Hospital in an ambulance. Specialists were called to him at the hospital, and they were able to say later that they had every hope of being able to restore Attridge's sight. Attridge has been unable to give any description of the men. They had broken into one of the garages, and apparently attemptipg to steal a car wnen he arrived on the scene. The narrow passage where the attack ;was made is bordered by a fencing, and it is thought that the raiders must have seen ,his helmet as he approached—Attridge is over six feet tall—and stood at the corner 'waiting until he came into 6ight.