Men prompt call-out

Press, 31 May 1986, Page 8

Men prompt call-out

PA Hastings Two men who bought a rifle from a Hastings sports shop early yesterday afternoon found themselves at the centre of an armed police callout a few minutes later. About eight policemen, one armed with a revolver, swooped on the men in a car parked outside a bank while lunchtime . crowds watched. The police had been called out after a person in the bank spotted the men with the rifle. Sergeant Henry Dewes, 1 of Hastings, said the men were sitting in their car trying to find how the rifle worked. The police surrounded the car and according to an onlooker, “Herald-Tri-bune” newspaper journalist, Bob Donnelly, Detective Sergeant Rick Graham pulled a revolve from under his jacket and pointed it at a man who got out of the front passenger door. The man was spreadeagled against the car, bundled into a police car, and driven away. Another policeman drove away two other men who had been in the car.

Sergeant Dewes said the men were taken to the Hastings police station for questioning but released about 35 minutes later without being charged.