CAR GOES OVER BANK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19510, 14 December 1926, Page 12

CAR GOES OVER BANK.

ONE PASSENGER KILLED. ANOTHER OCCUPANT HURT. CHARGE AGAINST THE DRIVER. [BY TELEGRAPH.—OWN CORRESPONDENT.] TAIHAPE, Monday. A fatal motoring accident took place about midnight on Saturday, near the Railway Bridge at the foot of the Kawa Road. A large car containing .John William Mahoney, who was driving, Q. P. Smith, George Robert Sutherland and a Maori, J. MacKay, was proceeding toward town, but when just over the bridge it crashed over'the bank at the side of the bridge and fell, upside down, with its wheels revolving and the engine roaring loudly.

The crash awakened several residents in the vicinity and the first who reached the scene quickly telephoned for both the doctor and the police. Dr. MacDiarmid, Sergeant O'Neill and Constablo King were soon on the spot. Mahoney, the driver of the car, and Smith, who were thrown clear, were standing near the car practically unscathed, but the other two were pinned underneath. Willing hands raised the car and the men were carried out into tho open, where it was found that Sutherland was dead, death being due to a broken neck. MacKay was unconscious and a stretcher having been obtained from tho railway station, ho was carried to hospital, an uphill climb of 400 yds. The body of Sutherland was then removed.

These operations, which were carried out under the direction of Sergeant O'Neill, occupied a considerable time and it was 1.30 o'clock before the istrctcherbearers returned. In the meantime Constable King had! taken both Mahoney and Smith to tho police station. When the sergeant arrived Mahoney was charged with manslaughter.

An inquest was opened this morning before the coroner, Mr. J. P. Aldridge, but after formal evidence of identification it was adjourned until Tuesday, December 21, when the manslaughter charge will be heard in conjunction with the inquest. Deceased, who was 36 years old, is believed to have come from Dunedin*