A BRUTISH BOBBY.

NZ Truth, Issue 138, 8 February 1908, Page 5

A BRUTISH BOBBY.

CONSTABLE IRWIN'S "USUAL MANNER." ■'''•■• . '. \ s \ ... „ ■■ How a Cowardly Gop Dealt with a Drunk. Dinnie Must Kick the Cur Out ef tbe Force. : "

This paper a few months back devoted a little of its very valuable , space to a stern reproof of a Gisborne, or, properly speaking/ aPov- ■ erty Bay district, policeman named Irwin, whose pugnacious tendencies : stamped him as a brutal, cowardly -i bully who should be dismissed from i the force with whatever ignominy at- j tends the discharge of a dastatd. Th* low, the minimumi, as it were, esti- I mation that this paper formed of s bully bobby Irwin a few months gone, : seems, if it were possible, to have i been generally confirmed by the m- ; dignation created m Gisborne by this cowardly cur of a cop's brutal behavior towards an elderly individual named Rqbert Mcßretney at the Waereng'a-a-hiki. Hotel on Jan. 20 last. It was oh a' charge of drunkenness, heard before ;Mr W. A. Barton,. S.M., that Mcßietney faced the music, but, to quote the timid Gisborne paper,' "ah unusual development took place when a serious allegation Of assault v was made against a- constable." Old man Mac is a country individual, .and he pleaded not guilty to the drunk charge, and as far as "Truth" is concerned it doesn't care whether he was dtuuk or sober. If sober, all the better for Mac; if drunk, then it makes things more ser rious. for Irwin, because! it is' natural to presume more will be heard of the matter, that is if Commissioner Dinnie is desirous of ROOTING OUT THE ROTTERS & ' RUFFIANS m the force, and a real, right-down, wretched rotter is this cur Irwin, Who should, m addition to being drummed out of the police, be severely punished for a cowardly, unprovoked assault on a man old enough to he his grandfather. As mentioned, Mcßretney was charged with the hop habit, and "hopped" or not, there can be no doubt, that Irwin, who was ,' not m uniform, has shot his bolt, and, having been proved a cur, the rest ought to be easy for Commissioner Dinnie, but hard, damned hard, for the' police ruffian. Anyhow, here is what Irwin had to say jon the charge of "shlkker." On January -20 he visited the Waerenga-a-hiki hotel, ; m the tap-room of which he saw Me- : Bretney sitting. There was a. brother < of the licensee behind the bar, and when Irwin asked what was wrong, the barman, Stephen Priestly, murmured that he was "shikker." Irwin went on to say that he aroused defendant, who stood up and ■ then fell on the fioor. Witness lifted him up and put him out of the -hotel, when defendant again fell over and commenced to struggle. He was UNABLE TO STAND UP without assistance. Two men attempted to take defendant borne "be^ tween them. In the meantime the licensee came along and witness drew his attention to the condition of defendant. Witness asked the barman if he had supplied defendant with liquor, and he replied, "Yes, he had a few sherries m here." As before stated, "Truth" . doesn't care a Wellingtonian two-penny daman j whether the -"old pot" was potty, ; putrid, prosy, or paralytic, or sim- < ply sober. It just wants to concern itself with the treatment the old i man got. To Mr -Coleman, who was • defending Irwin, witness said the old < ' man fell. He absolutely denied bay- * ing struck defendant with his riding ' Whip, or with his fists. He put defendant out ol the hotel m the usual way, and did not put his knees \ m the small of his back. Witness led defendant out of the front door when he fell. When defendant rose up again witness did not knock hun down. In the struggle defendant's shirt was torn. Witness did not see any drink m the tap-room. What the usual manner of ejecting a .drunken . _nan from an hotel is, when employed byIrwin, was not stated by this boy; m bine, who wasn't m blue on the ' occasion, but it is. interesting to note T the "usual" irianner as described by-' other reputable and certainly disin-r terested witnesses. The barman's eyi-'. dence on this point is that when Don- 1 stable Irwin entered he asked what' defendant was doing there m the itap- • room. Witness replied he was asleep. 1 The constable sat down alongside «4eM fendarit and struck him across .the? shoulder with a riding whip, severely, '•■_ then THREE BLOWS ON THE 'THIGH, ] and three on the instep. Accused j up, and witness informed [him ' a policeman was speaking to liim. j He was, getting up to walkout wbenj the constable caught him by the ; shoulders and forced him out along; the passage. -Accused was dumped up and down m the passage, and as hewas going out of the last corner .the , constable put his knee m the small; of his back. That was all witness saw. Accused did not fall m the "bap-, room at all, but fell on bis knees when shoved into the passageSerceant Williams, who prosecuted: - for tbe police, naturally, of course, ■ went bald-beaded for a conviction for ; drunkenness, and elicited this very^ damning bit of evidence against Irwin when he cross-examined the .bar-, man : "Accused did not wake up when ' he was struck first, it took nine 'pretty hard welts' to arouse iim." • And again : "When awakened accused ' walked steadily towards the door, about two steps, where he was shoved. He had to go about 30ft. to ;gei to the outside door." Another witness of "the "usual" ' manner m which Irwin deals with a drunk was a' Waerenga-a-hiki storekeeper named George M. Colebrook, ' whose first inkling of anything wrong was when he saw Irwin push McBretney out on, his back. Cdlebrbok's evidence speaks for itself. It as as follows: After that (the push) jaccused got up and appeared to be ■ i.rem On strati ng , with the constable. i<The constable asain pushed accused m the chest, and sent him along three or four yards on his back. Accused got on his feet quick enough and walked all right back to the constable, who took him by the shirt and ■ threw him again to the ground. After that a man named Beatson and a Maori went and took hold of accused and led him up the road. Witness I saw them go three or four yards ujj

the road. Accused lived a mile an_ a quarter along the road from th» hotel. The evidence of a carter named Charles Beatson is also interesting, if only to show the Kind of methods of a policeman m dealing "with a drunk. Beatson saw Irwin enter tha Sub. and the next thing he saw was Tcßretney come out backwards ant fall to the ground. Irwin came outi almost immediately and it seemed nst if he had pushed accused. The tattoo got up at once and spoke to the constable, who ordered him 'to go oft home. The constable made a rush at* acoused, who was about three r yards away, struck accused with his, bands about the chest or neck, CAUSING ACCUSED TO FALL DOWN. Witness was about a chain . away and wept straight over to him, .but before be got over the constable had knock-, ed accused down again. Accused was not helpless, but able tp^gct up unassisted. Accused began , to argue with the constable, when witness took him. He was much excited^ and witness told him to go home. A native came along, and between- them they walked with him about a quarter of a mile T and) left .him to go home. He went unassisted. In witness's opinion; accused was not drunk. Other neople present I were Mr Lester, Mr Reid, two men [from Makaurl. a native, [ and witness Colebrook. He thought they were all m a position to. see what took place. To Sergeant Williams the : witness said : . Accused asked him, to give evidence, not the proprietor of tha hotel. Accused might have fallen out! of the hotel door through drunkenness. Witness had knOwn defendant for some years, and when he saw himknocked about like .that be' : thought it was high time some one interposed. Witness 'did not remonstrate with the constable. The latter was at th<» store when he came back from taking accused away, but witness did- not speak to him. The Magistrate remarked that had that been himself he would car-tainly have remonstrated with' the policeman. * Magistrate -Barton said he had little doubt that accused, was drunk, but the case was one for further investigation. If the constable did tasocki accused about as alleged it was advisable that further investigation should be made. He would refrain from saying anything further just now. . Defendant would be convicted and fined ss, with costs 13s. m default 24 hours' imprisonment. For the third time "Truth remarks that whether Mcßretney was drunk or not is m itself a- matter of small concern. Indeed, it looks as ii he was drunk, and that fact makes: it all "the worse for Irwin, who, on the evidence adduced, is a scab of a slop, who should be gaoled for his brutish■ness. Like the Magistrate, "Truth" declares -that this is a matter for further investigation, and from all accounts there is plenty of evidence to convict Irwin, who was only able to produce one Witness, viz., himself, to support I>he -charge of drunkenness land to rebut the charge of cowardly assault so conclusively proved ,-:.- --. gainst hin_. And this much might also be said : Had not Mcßretney pleadpd aiot guilty, the possibility pi getting m" evidence of assault would nave Tieeri small. Now, what "Trutb" wants to know is, bow long will Comjnissioner fDUmie rest before he" biffs Irwin out pf the force. Dinnie must act pro__p_l!y, and so long as Dinnie -any .disinclination, to protect the .public , FROM BRUTES lk BLUE, so long will '.this paper pin-prick him m the endeavor to get justice. No doubt had '.any of the witnesses who saw ifihe ruffian Irwin maltreat McBretney imterfeced m aay way.. Irwin "wouia itav* retaliated by. prosecuting tffcem, ahA -probably successfully, lor Interfeiiing iwith Mm m the execution of has du&y, and the power of policemen m tthas -respect is. something enoumous, and a power curs t)f itihe Irwin type seldom fail to -use. )Now, -this tp_tp_r Jfcas. had a Ipt to say _m .police flmitality, But it has seldom asonieacKOSs a ease so" conclusive vas ithis, a__T-if Irwin is allowed to .remain m the force after what __as (been proved against him, then all tthfe paper can say is that the sooner !Pa_tiam«nt _n_ets_"Ch« better, ms "iErUth" w will tatee -fine car* that Dinrtiete adn_i___tra.t_Qfl of the force is rfchorotfghly sifted; It is no police sire flatly becoming more .unpoiiui-x. No wonder is it wlien the 'dikes Of Irwin «ie a_lo^ , ed %0 .-(disgrace >the ranks. - - ■- "-