BOY FATALLY INJURED

Taranaki Daily News, 24 September 1928, Page 10

BOY FATALLY INJURED

KNOCKED DOWN BY MOTOR CAR. WAS RUNNING ACROSS BRIDGE. That David John Warnock, aged 6, died in the New Plymouth Hospital on September 17 through a fracture of the skull and injuries to the brain caused when he was knocked down on September 15 by a car driven by John Victor Terrill was the verdict of Mr. R. W. Tate, S.M., at an inquest held on Saturday.

Sergeant MacGregor conducted proceedings for the police and Mr. I. Prichard represented Terrill. Dr. J. M. Clarke, medical superintendent, said the boy was admitted to the hospital at 4 p.m. on September 14. There was a wound on the head and a bruise over the left eye. There were signs that the skull was fractured. The right forearm was broken and there were numerous bruises on both leg.-. In spite of treatment, the boy did not regain consciousness and died at 4.15 a.m. on September 17. A little boy, James Anderson, said he was on the overhead bridge with Warnock. They were watching the train pass through the railings. Then two other boys ran across the bridge, followed by Warnock, witness and Cliff Mundy. He saw a motor car coming and he saw Warnock knocked down. Witness was nearly hit. He just managed to stop and pull Mundy out of tiie way. The car pulled up about the middle of the bridge. When cycling up Paynter’s Avenue about 3.20 p.m., Leonard George Heatley, telegraph messenger, said he saw five boys on the bridge. He went over the bridge and saw the car coming at about 10 miles an hour. It blew its horn repeatedly. Witness turned round and saw the boys watching the train from the side of the bridge. As the train went under the bridge, the boys, without looking round, ran straight across. By this time the car was on the end of the bridge. He was behind the car when it hit Warnock. It stopped two or three yards further on. There were skid marks on the tarred surface.

As she was looking out her diningroom window, Mrs. Anderson saw the car approach the bridge in the direction of the sea. Two boys ran across the brid-ge but a third, Warnock, hesitated and was struck. Her own son and the other boy ran off the bridge. She saw the driver- carry Warnock to one of the houses.

Constable Hadler said there were brake marks approaching the bridge towards Devon Street, -and a pool of blood about two-thirds of the way across the bridge.

Constable Butler said Terrill told him he was driving at about 10 miles an hour. The front right mudguard of the car had hit the boy.

Terrill, a farmer at Motonui, said that as he approached the bridge he saw the boys looking at the train. He blew his horn repeatedly coming down the hill. When he saw the two boys cross the brid;«o he applied his footbrake and entered the bridge at 10 miles an hour. A.boy said, “Look out! Here’s a car coming,” and tried to hold Warnock back. Warnock went on, however, and was hit. The car was stopped in two feet over its own length, witness getting out to carry, the boy in to a house, and to telephone a doctor and tho police.