CONDITION OF MOTORIST

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20208, 19 March 1929, Page 13

CONDITION OF MOTORIST

INTOXICATION CHARGE FAILS " NERVOUS AND EXCITED." arrest follows accident. Whether a motorist was under the influence of liquor or whether he was suffering from shock and excitement following a motor-car accident in Symonds Street a week ago was the question which had to be decided by Mr. E. C. Cutten, S.M., in the Police Court yesterday. Robert Quedley, aged 55, a gardener, was charged with having been found in a state of intoxication while in control of a motorcar. When travelling in Symonds Street, accused's car collided with a pole, after a slight impact with a motor-lorry, which had swung out at an angle to pass another vehicle

Police officers said Quedley was in a state of intoxication. A constable who accompanied him to the centraP station to make a statement said accused lurched against him and smelt of liquor. SeniorSergeant O'Grady said Quedley had had liquor. Accused had said he was lame in the left leg when he could not walk quite straight, but when he was asked a little later what leg it was ho indicated the right one. Witnesses who were with accused prior to and at the time of the accident said he was sober. He had only had one "pony" beer in the afternoon after a strenuous day's work. Quedley said ho was suffering from shock after the accident and he was excited. Medical testimony was given by Dr. W. H. Parkes, who said, he had known Quedley for two or three years. Never at any time had he discovered liquor on him or traces of it. Accused was a nervous and excitable type of man. It was his opinion that his condition after the accident was entirely due to shock. "We do not suggest the police have been in anyway unfair in this case, or that they have overstated or mis-stated or misled the Court," said Mr. Allan Moody, for accused. "I do say they were misled by accused's nervous and excited condition." With the direct evidence of those who were with Quedley before and at the time of the accident, and with the medical evidence which showed it was very unsafe to infer intoxication from effects which could have quite another and very satisfactory explanation, the magistrate said he could not possibly convict accused. It would be decidedly unsafe to do so. The charge was dismissed.

DRIVER RUNS INTO POST. FINE OF TWENTY-FIVE POUNDS. A fine of £25 for being intoxicated while in cliarge of a motor vehicle was imposed on Hugh Short bv Mr. F. H. Levien, S.M., in the Onehunga Police Court yesterday. It was stated accused drove up Queen Street in an erratic fashicn, and then hit a post while entering a hotel yard. When requested by the licensee to leave, he hit the post on ilie other side. The charge was admitted. Mr. Sellar said accused had not touched liquor for four years prior to this offence.