EARLY MORNING DRAMA

Chronicle (Levin), 20 January 1948, Page 4

EARLY MORNING DRAMA

Smart Arrest in P.N. FoUows Wanganui Alarm .. J. . l (Special to "Chronicle") PALMERSTON N., Jan. 20. A four-hour drama oi police' alarm s anl excursions whieh began in a Wanganui street shortly after midnight on Sunday when. the approach of •- a constable on beat cluty caused two. men loading assorted property into the back of a car hurricdly to abandon their work and scamper into another car parked nearby, ended abruptly in Rangitikei 'Street,- Palmerston North, at 4.5 a.m. yesterday when Sergeant O. lnnes and Constable A. Robinson surprised a man at the wheel of a stolen ear and after a short, bitter struggle handcuffed him and took him to the Central Police Station urider arrest.

Immediately after surprising the two men loading up the car in Wanganui and seeing them make good their getaway, the constable gatheredcup the property remaining.on the footpath and took'it to the Wanganui police station, When he returned to the seene the first car had also disappeared. A general alarm was promptly sent out to all North Jsland police statious g'iving a clescription of this car, and a short time later when the car was reported to the. police as having proceeded aeross the Wanganui River a signal was sent' to Palmerston North warning the police here to be 011 the alert. Sergeant lnnes accompanied by Constal)le Robinson began a eyele patrol of the eity area as soon as fhe Wanganui message was received at 2.40 a.m. They were proeeeding along Rangitikei Street at . 4 a.m, when they saw a ear. pull up outside a garage and immedi-

ately cxtinguish its headlights. They eautiously approach ed the ear and i'ound that its dcserjption tallied with that of the ear report--ed as stolen from Wanganui. The olf-side front door was open and. the ofiieers quickly closed on the. car to surprise the man behind the wheel. As he made to step from the ear the man made a sudden attempt to escape but he was taekled by Sergeant lnnes and after a short, bitter struggle Constable Robinson clapped handcuffs 011 to the car.di'iver and he was take'n into' eustody. ' * The police I'ound the back of the ear heavily laden with a wide variety of goods and several bags of money. There were a number of suitcases, a tin of petrol, two bottles of oil, two rifles and a quantity of .303 ammuntion. Detectives at Palmerston North are uow„proseeuting inquiries in regard to recent thefts at Palmerston North, Otaki, Levin, Hamilton and further afield. The man who was arrested appeared before Mr. J. R. Ilerd, S.M., in the Magistrate's Court at Palmerston North later in the morning charged with unlawfully convertingdo his own use a motor car valued at £600, the property of L. Ii. Reid, of Wanganui. He "was Leslie John Parnell, a motor driver, .aged 30 years, of Hamilton,/ On.the applieation of Senior Sergeant R. Andlef lie was remanded in eustody t'd appear at Wangaiuw on WednesdayT