Fined for throwing tomato at car

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34127, 13 April 1976, Page 13

Fined for throwing tomato at car

(N.Z. Press Association) WELLINGTON “Nobody would have known what you had thrown,” Mr G. P. Monagan, S.M., told a man who appeared in the Magistrate’s Court charged with throwing tomatoes at a car containing the Vice-President of the United States, Mr Nelson Rockerfeller.

William John Mackay, aged 21, a computer programmer, pleaded guilty to the charge of disorderly behaviour and was fined $4O. Detective Sergeant F. D. Picken: said that Mackay was standing on the footpath opposite the James Cook Hotel on April 3, when the motorcade containing Mr Rockerfeller drove along the terrace.

As the Vice-Presidential car drove past ' Mackay he ran on to the road and threw a tomato which struck the car on the windscreen. He then threw two more tomatoes at the car, one of which struck the left rear window. Mr Pickens said that the man was caught after a short chase down the road.

In explanation to the police, Mackay had said he believed the American visit

was against the interests of the New Zealand people and that the United States represented a nuclear threat to New Zealand. Mr Pickens said that the accused later admitted he felt more than a little stupid because of his behaviour.