FATAL INJURIES

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 134, 8 June 1937, Page 11

FATAL INJURIES

BOY CAUGHT BY CAR

HANDLE

HUTT ROAD ACCIDENT

The view that door handles of cars should point towards the ground, instead of to the front or back of the car, wa s expressed by Senior-Sergeant H. C. D. Wade when giving evidence at an inquest at Petone today into the circumstances of the death of Matthew Naismith Gough, aged 8, who was killed on the Hutt Road, Petone, on May 31. ■

Mr. A. H. Macandrew appeared for the driver of the. car. and Mr. W. P. Coles for the parents of the deceased.

Dr., P. P. Lynch, who examined the body of the boy, said that the wound in the chest and the injuries to the organs in the chest were consistent with the deceased having been struck by the projecting handle of a motorcar door.

■ Emily Nina Wilkinson said that about 3.25 p.m. on May 31 she was driving her car along the Hutt Road towards Wellington. Her speed was about 20 m.p.h. and she was keeping to the correct side of the road. As she approached the Petone West School shs saw about two dozen children playing on the bitumen' and on the footpath opposite the school. She slowed down to about ten miles an hour, sounded the horn twice, and slewed the car over to the right-hand side of the road. The children did not seem to take any notice of the horn. There was one boy who ran backwards across the road towards the car and as he got to the car he- swung round facing in the same direction, as she was travelling, ( with his back to her. The car struck him with the front door handle and pulled him over. , He got up and ran across the road saying, "Mummy, I am hurt." He then fell over on the side of the road. Another boy who appeared to be chasing the boy that was run over had a leather bag and was swinging it by a strap. , When witness saw the boy running towards the car she applied the brakes and stopped the car almost as soon as he fell. The boy died almost immediately.

James Wilkinson, a retired civil servant, and William Purvis, a retired farmer, who were passengers in the car, gave evidence similar to Mrs. Wilkinson's.

William Vincent Ridley, a schoolboy, eleven years of age, said he was chasing the deceased when the accident happened. The deceased swore at him. but witness did not leave the footpath. The decased did not look to see if any traffic was coming. Witness did not have a schoolbag. Ronald Alfred Burnley, a schoolboy, aged 13; Joyce Edwin, a schoolgirl, aged 12; Warwick Frank Lindop, a fruiterer; and Harry Ewbank, retired, also gave evidence. ■ Constable S. C. Higgins said the boy was dead when he arrived on the scene of the accident. The left front door handle was covered with blood. The point of this,handle faced towards the front of the.car and was not curved inwards, and:fee handle was five inches Senior-Sergeant.H, C: D. Wade gave corroborative evidence. ' The Coroner (Mr. E. Gilbertson. JP.) said it was evident that the boy had run into the car and was not looking where he was going. The occur : rence was purely accidental. He found that the deceased died from injuries received to his chest sustained througn colliding with a car driven by .Nina Wilkinson on the Hutt Roacl. :Petone. on May 31, 1937.