KICKED CONSTABLE WHEN ARRESTED.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17780, 25 February 1926, Page 8

KICKED CONSTABLE WHEN ARRESTED.

ACCUSED MAN RESISTS ATTEMPT TO SEARCH HIM

A number of charges were preferred against John Somerville Jones, who appeared at the Magistrate's < 'ourt this morning and alleged that while arresting him two constables had assaulted him. The police, however. alleged otherwise and Constable M'Cormiclc has a plastered eve as a souvenir of his encounter with Jones, who pleaded not guilty to the following charges:— Drunkenness, resisting the police, assault on Constable M’Cormick. and damaging cell utensils at the Police Station.

Sub-Inspector Matthew prosecuted and Mr Batchelor appeared for the accused.

Constable John M Cormick said that he had been called to the Clock Tower, where he saw Jones struggling with Constable Dunlop outside the Excelsior Hotel. Jones was calling out and waving his arms about. It was with difficulty that they got him into a taxi and took him to the station. Jones had to be held down the whole time. He was taken out to the cells and there he refused to be searched. He fought and kicked and had to be held down to be searched. During the struggle Jones deliberately kicked the witness over one eye.

Mr Batchelor: Was Jones struck behind the ear? —He knocked himself about a good deal. How did you get him down to be searched?—We held his arms and legs and pulled him down.

Do you think it would have been possible for him to get eight bruises like that?—He could get them easily the way he was struggling—he was a dangerous man at the time. Constable Gordon Dunlop said that he had seen Jones outside the Excelsior Hotel waving his arms and calling out: “ The publican is beating his wife.” Constable M'Cormick came along and they got Jones to the cells, where he violently kicked Constable M'Cormick.

Percival Oliver Smith, driver of the taxi which took the accused to the Police Station. said that Jones struggled violently and was in a drunken rage with the police.

Dr M. G. Louisson said that he had examined Jones and there were a number of bruises and abrasions on his body. There was a bruise behind the

To Sub-Inspector Matthew, the witness said that the injuries were consistent with the story of the struggle. The mark behind the ear could have been caused by a blow.

The accused in evidence stated that he had called at the Excelsior Hotel to see a man on business. He had a drink and complained about a woman being ordered out of the hotel. A man told him to look out or he might be "cleaned up.” Then Constable Dun lop came along and there was a struggle. When he was put into a taxi Constable M'Cormick sat on him and later he was hit behind the ear. In the cell he had asked the constables to give him " a sporting chance,” but he was knocked down on the floor and searched. He had not kicked Constable MCormick intentionally.

George Fox Webster, licensee of the Excelsior Hotel, said that Jones was in the bar of the hotel for two or three hours. Jones was not drunk but he was behaving in a disorderly manner on the road. He thought the constable was quite right in arresting the accused. Jones wanted to fight the witness for ordering a woman out of the hotel.

The Magistrate (Mr Young) found the accused guilty on each charge. Mr Batchelor, in addressing the Magistrate on the question of punishment, said that the accused had been a councillor in Dunedin some ■'•ears ago and he was then chairman of a works committee. He was also the brains behind the North Canterbury Forests, Ltd. He was well-known in the town and drink was his only trouble.

The Magistrate: It's quite clear that this mah's trouble is drink and therefore he should not drink at all. On the charge of being drunk and disorderly he was convicted and ordered to come up for sentence any time within two years. In that period he was ordered to abstain from alcoholic liquor and to be prohibited. For resisting Constable Dunlop he was convicted and discharged, and for assaulting Constable M'Cormick he was fined £lO. On the other charge he was ordered to pay 15s, the amount of the damage.