MINISTER AND BABY KILLED IN CAR CRASH AT AUCKLAND

Greymouth Evening Star, 5 July 1950, Page 3

MINISTER AND BABY KILLED IN CAR CRASH AT AUCKLAND

AUCKLAND, July 4 (P.A.).— A Presbyterian minister and a six months’ old baby were killed and the baby’s mother was seriously injurect when a motor-car driven by the minister got out of control on Lake road, Takapuna, about 11.30 a.m. today. The car mounted the footpath and struck the baby and his mother.

Those killed were:— The'Rev. Sidney Levi Boot, aged 64, a retired Presbyterian minister, of Castor Bay. William Patrick O’Callaghan, aged six months, son of Mr G. H. O’Callaghan, of Takapuna.

The injured woman is: Mrs Ellen Ida O’Callaghan, aged 29. Mrs O’Callaghan received a compound fracture of the right leg. All were admitted to the Auckland Public Hospital, but the baby died at 1.10 p.m, and Mr Boot at 2.15 p.m. A child who was standing beside Mrs O’Callaghan escaped. Mr Boot, who was a widower, was driving his small motor-car north along Lake road. It is believed that he had a heart seizure just before the car got out of control and struck a lamp post at the foot of the long hill leading up to Takapuna Grammar School. The car continued at a fast speed up the hill for about 250 yards before mounting the footpath and striking Mrs O’Callaghan and the pram holding the baby. The pram, with the baby still in it, was jammed on the front of the car, which continued up the footpath before swinging back on to the road. The car then crossed the road, narrowly missing a bus shelter, and crashed through the boundary . fence of the Grammar School, coming to rest on a hockey field near the goal

posts. _ Mr A. Macdonald, an orthopaedic surgeon, and Dr R. Brown, who were visiting the Wilson Home for Crippled Children, which adjoins the school, rushed to the scene and gave first aid. They were helped by orderlies from the home.