Youths arrested after traffic officer stabbed

Press, 3 February 1981, Page 3

Youths arrested after traffic officer stabbed

_ PA Hamilton A Paeroa traffic officer was-stabbed in the- back,as he sat in a patrol car sur r rounde’d by fi ve’youths on Sunday evening.; Traffic Officer -’.Graeme Adams was stiff -and sore yesterday afer being treated for a surface wound that required five stitches. “He was ■ just lucky he stayed in the car,” Paeroa’s Chief Traffic Officer, Mr R. Clarke, said yesterday. The police from Hamilton raced to the scene and

i searched the town and surrounding areas through the . night. Three youths were appre- ’ hended in the early hours of yesterday, and two others , were found in a haybarn <?n [ a farm near Paeroa soon ' after 7 a.m. The incident happened when Traffic Officer Adams was looking for a car that [ had been taken from Paeroa 'He saw the vehicle turn down a side street and followed it. When he stopped the five youths surrounded his vehicle, and one of the group stabbed ■ him. • with what is believed to be a knife through the open window of his patrol car. The group broke up and ran off, leaving the traffic officer bleeding in his car. He called for assistance and, at the height of the search, 18 policemen were combing the Paeroa township. \ Mr Clarke said yesterday he was distressed by the at- ! tack which exposed the vul- . nerability of. traffic, officers on night patrol.; ‘ •'