ENCOUNTER WITH ARMED LUNATIC.
A COURAGEOUS CONSTABLE.
Napier, June 20. Exciting happenings involving an unfortunate demented Maori, a loaded revolver, and extremely courageous behaviour by Constable Craigic, startled the neighbourhood of Warren Street, Hastings, between midnight and 1 o’clock this morning. The Maori, who was later identified as an escaped patient from Porirua Mental Hospital, was ouo of the passengers in a service car .which arrived at Hastings from the south shortly after midnight. On the way the ear had a breakdown at Te Aute, and the Native got into a dispute with some of the other passengers, and in the course of an argument he produced a revolverof somewhat antique pattern. He was, however, induced to put the weapon away, and on reaching Hastings the driver at once notilied the police of the occurrence. Constable- Craigic accompanied the driver to Warren Street, where his unwelcome passenger had a-light-ed, and for a while the two conducted a search ot the thoroughfare, but without result. The service car driver then left, and the constable continued the search unaided. He was passing under a verandah when the man for whom lie was searching dropped off the roof on to his shoulders. The constable was temporarily nonplussed by the unexpected happening, Init immediately grappled with his attacker. In the scramble the Native, who is a powerfully-built man, lost his grip on the revolver, and during the struggle for possession two shots wore discharged. The weapon fell to the ground, and the constable managed to get lus foot on it.
The overpowering of his opponent, who had all the strength and cunning of a madman, however, was a difficult matter, and it was only after some fifteen minutes’ struggling that the constable was able to get him sufficiently under control to allow him to use one hand to extract his whistle from his pocket and blow it, bringing several residents from the immediate neighbourhood to his aid. With their help the Maori, who was still full of fight, was handcuffed and conveyed to the police station by his captor. • It is understood that the Maori was under the delusion that he had been specially engaged thy the Government to search for the dangerous criminal who recently escaped from Mount Eden gaol.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MH19280621.2.19
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Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3808, 21 June 1928, Page 3
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377ENCOUNTER WITH ARMED LUNATIC. Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3808, 21 June 1928, Page 3
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