CARELESS MOTORIST

Evening Star, Issue 18394, 1 October 1923, Page 8

CARELESS MOTORIST

TWO MEN INJURED,

PRINCES STREET EPISODE.

In the Police Court to-day, before Mr ,J, R. Bartholomew, 0.M., Henry Walton Phillips, who was represented by Mr Irwin, pleaded guilty to having driven a motor oar on Saturday, 1 last, in a negligent manner. _ i Senior-sergeant Mathieson said that the defendant dashed from High street into Princes street, knocking one m«in down and fracturing an arm and leg. A little j further down Princes street another man j was knocked down, though he was not ( seriously hurt. A constable gave chase in; a taxicab, but Phillips managed to get' safely away. Inquiries were instituted by Sergeant Dunlop, and after some strenuous work he succeeded in tracing him. When Phillips had been told that he had knocked people down ho said : “ I am astounded, astounded!" The .senior sergeant added that the offence with which the defendant was charged was of a very serious nature, and stated that, within the past five months twenty people had been taken to the hospital as the result of being knocked down by cars: so it could be seen that, as far as Dunedin was concerned, these accidents appeared to be greatly on the increase. “It is probably just as well for Phillips that he didn’t stop.” continued the senior sergeant, “ns the crowd were in such an angry mood as the result of what happened that there is no knowing what they might have done to him had they succeeded in getting at him." The defendant, he stated, had given the police no help at all

Mr Irwin said that the senior sergeant had evidently been carried away by the fact that a man had been seriously injured. Counsel said that at the corner whore tho accident took place there was always a crowd of people, discussing all manner of subjects. They seemed to resent anyone trying to get through in a car, and it was either necessary to pull up or sound tho horn continuously. Mr Irwin said that Phillips’s car had not actually knocked the men over, but they had been caught by tho side of the car in getting out of the way. Phillips did everything he could, but said that ho was astounded when he had been told that he had knocked a man down. Ho was perfectly frank, and admitted that he was the driver. Phillips, added Mr Irwin, was a very well-known citizen, and it seemed strange that, people at tho corner did not recognise him. Since tho accident defendant had' visited the man who had been seriously hurt and had expressed, his sorrow. Phillips was bound to plead guilty, but tho offence was not the callous one that had been made out against him. It was obvious that the injured man would have to bo compensated, and altogether it was a serious matter for Phillips. Counsel contended that it was only an ordinary charge of negligence. The Magistrate : Wore the men knocked over?

The Senior Sergeant: Yes. In the case of Croxford, who was seriously hurt, the car must have gone right over him. Air Irwin : The information we got from Croxford was that tho side of the car had caught him and had knocked him down. The Senior Sergeant said that it was a straight-out case of negligence, except [or the equivocation of defendant-. (Mr Irwin: I object to that. If the senior sergeant knows what it means he has no right to use it. The Magistrate : Have you any evidence as to the speed that defendant was travelling? The Senior Sergeant said that defendant was going at .about fifteen miles an hour. He had only the statement of the injured man, hut if the case was adjourned further evidence could he called on that point. Mr Irwin, in a further explanation, said that if a plea of guilty meant that they had to swallow' everything the police said, then in similar cases in the future they would have to seriously consider the matter before entering such a plea. The Magistrate said that there was no question but that defendant had driven in a careless manner. He inflicted a fine of £lO and costs.