CHASE IN DARK

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 73, 27 March 1934, Page 17

CHASE IN DARK

CONSTABLE RESISTED

STRUCK WITH A BOTTLE

(By Telegraph—Press Association.) ; NEW^LYIIOUTH^jVterch % % Constable E. W.. Powell, ,at Hokauj tonight was attacked and struck witli a bottle when attempting to detain two young men. who were in. possession, of a motor-car allegedly taken without authority from New; Plymouth, early, in the evening. :'. '•:>■ ■■-..■■ ■ ~> "•!•;,! v An exciting man-liunt-in the dark'-fo^ lowed,- when twenty MokaiiJ residents, undor Constable- Powell; searched-the riverside scrub for "the;'lncii, who had made a temporary-escape.''When-: 'the"! mcii were cornered by Constable^ Powell and. Messrs. Frederick Northern and N. Taylor, another strenuous melee occurred beforo the men could be taken into custody. The motor-car, a five-seater, owned by Mr. Peter Oscar Pope, New Plymouth, was taken between 6.15 and 6.45 p.m. Constable Powell had stationed himself at the rabbit gate at the Mokau Eiver, bridge to intercept the car, as all drivers of vehicles have to stop at this point to open the gate. The- motor-car arrived at 9 p.m., and Constable Powell challenged the men. The constable asked the men to accompany him, and the driver jammed the car into reverse gear and attempted to back,away fr.om the gate. Constable Powell leapt to the running-board and seized the steering-wheel, when the second occupant crashed a bottle on the constable's jaw. He was dazed, and the men decamped from the car. Despite the desperate nature of the opposition and his condition, the constable gave chase, but tbs men got away under, the bridge. They were caught later by a search party, but not beforo making a desperate struggle. j Their names we|e ; . uukiown. this evening. Both are^wjfli-. dressed. One is a solidly-built^ypun~g ; .,inan of about 25 years of age^anct' the^«ther is about 20. The mot6rrcar,-%as; not damaged.