Two killed when car hits Presley crowd

Press, 19 August 1977, Page 6

Two killed when car hits Presley crowd

NZPA - Reuter Memphis A car ploughed into a crowd of mourners outside the Graceland mansion in Memphis, Tennessee, where Elvis Presley’s bodv lav yesterday, killing two girls and injuring at least four other people. Witnesses said the driver, of the car appeared to have deliberately rammed into the j crowd. I The police chased the car 'down Elvis Presley Boule'vard and caught it in the next block. A man and three young women were taken into custody. Thousands of fans have gathered in Memphis to pay an emotional farewell to Presley. A private funeral service at Presley’s Graceland mansion today (N.Z. time) will precede the burial — but the ceremony at the Forest Hill Cemetery is likely to draw the same crushing throng that pushed, shoved, and fought among themselves for a last glimpse of their hero yesterday. An estimated 10,000 mourners packed Elvis Presley Poulev rd to the gates of

his Graceland mansion, desperate to get through io see the star’s “lying-in-state.” In an open white casket, the king of rock-and-roll lay dressed in a pure white suit, 'silver tie, and light blue shirt. His hair was slicked back with that familiar curl. Outside more than 100 policemen and 50 National

Guardsmen struggled to con- ) trol the crowds. Scuffles and! fistfights broke out as mour;i ners battled to get in. i In the end several tbou-l i sand people had to be turned away alter a public I viewing of almost four • hours, twice the length orig-: : inally planned by the familx. Tributes poured in from, > around the world for Pres- ': ley, who died of heart failure or Tuesday at the age of! 42. President Carter said : yesterday that Presley "per- ; manently changed the face i of American popular culture” and became a ! "world-wide symbol of his ’ country’s vitality, rebellious- • ness, and good humour." I The President, in a stateament issued by the White •! House on Presley’s death. | said the popular singer was s unique and irreplaceable. I “Elvis Presley’s death ' deprives our country of a ! part of itself,” President 1 Carter said. “His music and r his personality, fusing the > styles of white country and black rhythm and blues, per- - manently changed the face •’ of American popular culf ture."

Two of Presley’s former bodyguards, in a Los Angeles press conference yesterday, described the singer’s last years as "tormented” and called Presley “a victim of himself, his image, and his legend.” The bodyguards. Sonny West and Dave Hebler, said Presley was a lonely, brood-

ing man who would often stay in his room for weeks, eating enormous quantities of food, and constantly taking drugs.

West toid reporters that the singer took “uppers, downers. sleeping pills. Demerol, and cocaine.”

When they tried to stop him using drugs. Preslev told them. "I need it.” The singer weighed more than 90kg (14 stone) when he died Presley went to a Memphis dentist the night before he died, for work on several teeth. Returning to the mansion before dawn, he played a vigorous game of racquetball only hours before his death. In Moscow, a Soviet newspaper depicted Presley as a victim of American business greed. “Sharp business operators turned Presley into an idol of rock-and-roll placing his talent and reputation at the service of profits,” the Government newspaper, “Izvestia,” said in its brief report of the singer’s death. Last month another official Soviet paper, “Literaturnaya Gazeta,” said Presley had been "mercilessly tossed on to the -.crap heap of those who have gone out of fashion." “Contrary to the legend, the riches and fame did not bring happiness to the king of rock-and-roll, but emptied (him and wrecked him, and ; prematurely turned him into a cripple.” it said.