BLOW ON HEAD

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 239, 9 October 1942, Page 4

BLOW ON HEAD

TAXI-DRIVER STRUCK

FARE'S VIOLENT ASSAULT

Head injuries were suffered by Mr. Herbert O. Smith, Checker taxi driver, of 57, Sentinel Road, Heme Bay, when he was assaulted by his passenger about midnight last night.

Mr. Smith stated this morning that he was hailed by a man at the corner of Karangahape Road and Upper Queen Street, and asked to drive to an address in Princes Street. He drove as directed and was about to pull up when the passenger, who was seated in the back of the car, asked him not to take him into the light.

Mr. Smith accordingly turned into Bowen Avenue and, upon the passenger asking the amount of the fare, informed him that it was two shillings. He had no sooner said this than he received a blow on the head. He bumped against the righthand door, causing it to open, and fell on to the roadway.

The car continued down Bowen Avenue, and had got halfway down the steep slope of the street when it swerved to the left and crashed into an electric light standard. The centre of the radiator struck the pole and the bonnet crumpled up under the force of the impact, while the bumper was wrapped round the pole. •

The unknown assailant disappeared, while Mr. Smith, dazed from the attack, picked himself up and staggered on to the pavement. He met a member of the air force, who procured assistance. He was taken to the police station and later conveyed by ambulance to the Auckland Hospital, where the wound in his head was stitched. After receiving medical attention he was able to proceed home.

Mr. Smith was apparently hit with an empty wine bottle. Fragments of glass from the broken bottle were found about the car and on the roof and also lying on the roadway at the point near the top of Bowen Avenue where Mr. Smith said he was struck.