MANSLAUGHTER CHARGE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18641, 23 February 1924, Page 7

MANSLAUGHTER CHARGE

I - DEATH OF /: ( CONSTABLE. c; I 'ARREST OF CAR DRIVER, ' CORONER'S VERDICT, NEGLIGENCE The adjourned inquest concerning the death of Robert Todd, the police constable .who was killed in a collision between a motor-car and a Chinaman's cart On Manukau Road, Epsom, early in the morning of November 14, was concluded before the coroner, -Mr. W. R. McKean, S.M., yesterday. A verdict was returned that deceased died aa a result of injuries, received in the accident which was caused by the negligent' driving of a motor-car by John Andrew Fox. ./ Fox, who was represented :by Mr. Towle, instructed by Mr. Hume, was then charged before Mr. F. K. , Hunt,. S.M., with causing -the death of Todd by negligently driving his vehicle along Manukau Road on ' November 14. 1 : Senior-Sergeant Rawle, who' represented , the police, applied for a remand to Thursday. : This ; was granted, bail of £100 . being allowed.. At the inquest evidence was given by Dr. W. Abbott, of Epsom, who stated that, death • was due to an extensive fracture at the base of the skull. ■ Witness stated that " the driver of the ; motor was hot drunk, ; but showed distinct symptoms of alcohol, of '/'/which * he ,/ had - taken sufficient' to impair his judgment. ;* Andrew W. Rut;sel, branch manager rof Amburys, Ltd., Epsom, stated that " was driving toward ? Greenwood a Corner in a milk float about . 5.15 a.m. , on the morning in question when i-a, car passed him going -in the same direction travelling at about 50 miles an hoi». - Witness noticed a man leaning over the side of the car. Ahead was a Chinaman s cart also ' - travelling toward • GreenwoOdS; Comer on its proper side of the a road. After the accident witness rang up io? the ambulance. ■'i 5/ : ' : To Senior-Sergeant Rawle: After the accident the driver of the car seemed excited. He appeared to be under theinfluence of liquor.

Fifty Miles an Hour. ; , >~i A * tramway motorman, W. Evans, stated that t>n the morning in question he was cycling along Mannkau Road on his way; to ' work when a motor passed t him, travelling -.at about .SO miles ,an hour., He had to get -on to the footpath to be safe as the *• car forced him into the kerb. Witness resumed his ride . and came upon the scene of the accident. , Ho asked - the drive* if it was his car that had passed him, and' Fox replied that .it was. Fox asked witness not to give him away.": He explained that deceased was a policeman ana that he was; hurrying to- get , him on * duty. Witness, ;; who said .he saw three bottles of beer m the car, considered <JB'ox was under the in* fluence of 'liquor. . William H. E. . Needham, a postal official of Onehunga, described the collision between . the motor-car and the < Chinaman's cart. Prior to. - the accident he stated that the I motor had /, passed him travelling at between 45 and 50 miles an hour. Deceased was leaning over the, door of the car. When witness arrived at the scene of the accident Fox was making rambling statements./5 He said: "Will someone give me a gun, so that si, can; shoot myself?" ' Fox was under : . the influence of liquor. - Witness ". saw, three full : bottles of beer» in ' the - rear of the car and J broken glass on the roadway. To Mr. Towle: The motor .appeared to hit the cart and bounce 'off.,. V„ ~ Expert evidence as to the • damage sustained by the car was given by Thomas A. Lewis. , He said .that the 1 , left front and . back mudguards were badly bent, the forme*; particularly so. - The hood was . also badly damaged. > The brakes o and steering-gear were ? sound. It appeared as if the hood < and the back. 6f the car had. taken most of the i force of the impact. The back axle was several inches out of

alignment. -To Mr. Towle: If both - "brakes were applied suddenly to a car travelling at 50 miles an hour the vehicle would skid. To the Coroner: It would take a heavy, blow to move the back- axle. I ' \ . To Mr. Towle: The . damage - was consistent with the impact at the front, of the car having'swung the back against the "cart. The sudden jar might have shifted;' the axle. . Alter the Accident. i John McGuire, a tramway motorman who witnessed the • accident, a stated - that ox said to him that • the > only thing ; he: was worrying about was the man lying on the footpath, 4 Witness replied" that he thought ..the. man ; rj Was, dead/ and * Fox answered that :if he thought that he wcuJd commit suicide. • fFox also said that if he had a razor he .would cut his throat. "Witness thought Fox was under the influence of liquor. IS Constable G. Wales, %of : Epsom, stated that when he arrived ,at ' the, scene cf the;, accident Fox said to him that he had notseen the Chinaman's cart;, Fox explained that, he *was driving ,fast , because he. wanted to get. the constable back ; to duty. 5 Fox was <suffering ; from the effects off drink, * from " want ' of V sleep f and .from | shock. Describing Manukau Road wit-, ness said ; that " the" cart, would • have c first been visible when" the <- motors; wasp 53, chains away. I Owing to a dip in the road j the drive? would • later ■ lose •• sight 't- tof thej' cart, but he would see it again when he was 14 chains behind j it. "> He would .then have an uninterrupted view of it up -to the time of the' accident. The morning was fine and clear* * ; ■ \, The coroner stated that on the . evidence before him he? was able to come-to, only one conclusion, which 'was that. Fox was driving negligently at the time of theaccident. The party had ' gained admission to an hotel at a time when it . should have " been closed for ' the ; sale >of liquor.? A good deal or drink been soncnmed bv all ita including Fox.Bottles of beer were carried in tho car. He considered that the S excessive speed; at which,the car was driven waa due to Fox's intoxication.l Fox . had r tola the police that fie ' had not seen the cart; but in his evidence be, had said he did see it. J The injuries to 1 hi?,', ear showed that he must have been travelling at. a greater soeed than his estiir of, from '20: to 25 miles an.hour. Other evidence also showed that the car was being driven at a verV high speed. He accordingly found that Fox had been guilty of negligence.