DR. THACKER & CYCLIST

Greymouth Evening Star, 12 May 1934, Page 2

DR. THACKER & CYCLIST

A CHARGE DISMISSED. [PEB PBESB ASSOCIATION.] CHRISTCHURCH, May 11. A charge of using insulting words in a public place was brought against Harry Thomas Joynt Thacker, medical practitioner, in the Magistrate’s Court to-day, while Dr. Thacker’s chauffeur, Clarence Campbell Falconer, was charged with negligently driving a car. Roth charges were dismissed.

Sub-Inspector Powell said that, on April 10. Leonard Armstrong was cycling in Durham Street on his correct side, opposite Thacker’s property. Dr. Thacker’s car was driven in front of him, and stopped so that Armstrong had to ride into the gutter and fall off to avoid riding into the car. Armstrong asked the chauffeur for an explanation, but Dr. Thacker replied that, he had the right to pull in, as he lived there. Dr. Thacker also told Armstrong to “Get out of the damned road!” and called him “A damned useless cur!” and, turning to the chauffeur, told him “To squeeze the neck of that man.”

Dr. Thacker and Falconer, also Mrs. Thacker, denied that Dr. Thacker had used the words, and they all declared that Armstrong had used provocative language, calling Dr. Thacker "the biggest dud th New Zealand,” and “a big bluff.”

The Magistrate said that the evidence on either side was an absolute contradiction, and he was unable to say which was the truth.