STRUCK BY HORSES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 9, Issue 57, 1 April 1946, Page 5

STRUCK BY HORSES

UNUSUAL TYPE OF ACCIDENT

SERIOUS INJURIES SUSTAINED A serious and unusual type of accident occurred in King Street on Tuesday evening, when Mr H. E. Langridge, well known by reason of his position as officer in charge of the Whakatane Office of the Social Security Department in this town, was knocked from his bicycle and run over by three Maori youths mounted on horseback.

The accident happened shortly before 11 p.m. when Mr Langridge was returning home after having spent the evening at the home of some friends. When passing Goulstone Road corner, the bus taking passengers home after the concert in King Street Hall commenced to overtake him. Apparently the three Maoris concerned, whose ages range from 15 to 21 years, were endeavouring to race the bus on horseback. They swept past the vehicle and immediately came upon the victim of the accident who was knocked from his bicycle and struck by a flying hoof. The Maoris did not stop. The bus also continued on, the driver apparently not witnessing the accident. A few minutes later, Mr A. Schick,' Western Drain Road, who was returning home from a St. John Ambulance class, discovered Mr Langridge, and conveyed him to the Whakatane Public Hospital, where it was ascertained that he had sustained two fractures of the left leg below the knee. He is today reported to be progressing satisfactorily. Two of the Maoris, teerr-age boys, were arrested.

The accident, happening as it did, was the more unfortunate, as Mr Langridge was due to leave the district within the next month, having been transferred.