First-ever dangerous skiing conviction

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 9, Issue 405, 24 September 1991, Page 12

First-ever dangerous skiing conviction

In what is probably the first case of its kind in New Zealand a skier has been convicted of dangerous skiing under the broad definition of disorderly behaviour in a public place. In the Ohakune District Court last Thursday, Roger Allan Tarry, 19, plumber of Thames was found guilty on two charges.... one of disorderly behaviour and one of assault upon a police constable, both incidents occurring on 15 July on the Turoa Skifield. The case was heard by Judge R L Watson of Palmerston North and the prosecuting officer was Police sergeant Bob Evans of Ohakune. The first prosecution witness was Turoa ski patroller Adam John Wallace. He described his duties and responsibilities. He has had four years experience two as a 'liftee' and two as a ski patroller working on the Turoa skifield. While patrolling on a lower freeway on the morning of 15 July he saw a skier above him coming down in a straight line and out

of control..."he was back on his tails" The witness said the skier (defendant) would not have been able to stop and avoid people below him had it been necessary to do so. He wamed defendant that he was skiing too fast for his capability and, after identifying Tarry, clipped his ski pass to indicate he had received one warning and told him that another warning would result in him being asked to leave the skifield. Later that morning witness said that he saw defendant on the Giant chairlift and decided to wait for him as he'd received a report from another ski patroller that defendant had again been observed skiing dangerously on another part of the skifield known as the 'Boneyard' above the Winterg arden. At that time witness did not have his skis on with the result that when he told defendant to wait at the top of the chairlift so he could be escorted off the skifield defendant said,"You'll have

to catch me first," and skied down the trail known as the 'Yahoo'. Scuffle He then saw what appeared to be a scuffle between police constable Greg Phillips of Ohakune and defendant. When he arrived on the scene he assisted Greg Phillips with detaining defendant. Under cross examination by defence counsel, Mr Phil Connell of Hamilton, witness said that defendant had been unco-operative throughout and had had to be asked three times to produce his ski pass before he did so. Witness told defence counsel that he was "totally convinced" that defendant was an inexperienced and unskilled skier because of his skiing manner and attitude towards the safety of others on the skifield. The second prosecution witness to be called was Murray Kenneth Brown of Ohakune who said that he had spent ten years skiing on Mt

Ruapehu, the last two as a ski patroller on Turoa. On Monday 15 July, while riding up in the Giant chairlift, he said he saw a skier travelling down very fast and "bordering on being out of control" in a straight line through the area known as the 'Boneyard'. He continued to watch this skier and saw that he passed very close to a female skier causing her to fall before he himself fell and slid about 25 metres past a 'Slow' sign into the Winter Garden beginners' area. Denied falling Witness said that he waited at the top of the Giant chairlift for this skier who, when confronted with the two incidents, denied that he had either caused another skier to fall or had fallen himself ...despite the fact that the defendant still had snow adhering to his clothes consistent with a fall. When asked, in the presence of the first

witness and skifield management to produce his ski-pass ticket defendant at first refused but then, when it was noted the ticket had already been clipped, defendant was told to wait at the top of the chairlift so that he could be escorted from the skifield. However, noting that neither ski-patroller had their skis on, defendant had skied off down the Yahoo gully saying: "You'll have to catch me first." He next saw defendant further down the gully as another skier (constable Greg Phillips) came up alongside him. He saw defendant's hand come out and strike Greg Phillips. Under cross-examina-tion witness told defence counsel that accidents are usually caused by impacts between skiers on different courses and not on parallel courses. The third prosecution witness was police constable Greg Phillips of

Ohakune. He said that on Monday 15 July he had been skiing on Turoa during his off-duty day. At about midday he was called by Turoa skifield management to the top of the Giant chairlift where he saw defendant being spoken to by skipatrollers Wallace and Brown. He took no part in the discussion but heard defendant being told to wait so that he could be escorted from the skifield. When he saw defendant ski away down the Yahoo gully, he decided to follow (as he was the only one still wearing skis) and identify himself as a police officer. However as he skied alongside defendant, defendant had put his hand out and struck him on the shoulder in an attempt to push him away saying: "You're not f g following me." After a short scuffle and with the help of the two ski patrollers who by then had arrived on the scene, he was able to detain defendant and

arrest him on a charge of disorderly behaviour and assault. Under cross examination witness told defence counsel that he had not been wearing uniform or any other m e a n s o f identitification as a police officer as he was not officially on duty that day. He said that he'd been skiing for about four years and had been working as a police officer on the Turoa skifield for the past two seasons. The defendant Tarry then took the witness stand. He said he was a good skier with four seasons experience ("six or seven weekends every season") behind him. He admitted to being a fast skier but claimed he was never out of control. Under cross examination he agreed that he had come to a "spectacular stop" about 10 metres away from a queue of about 20-30 people at the bottom of Turnpage 15

Dangerous skiing

From page 12 the Boneyard but had not hit or inconvenienced other skiers. He denied he had caused a woman to fall. He admitted to never having had a formal ski lesson or any instruction in skiing techniques. He denied deliberately pushing constable Greg Phillips with his hand saying that he might have accidently struck him with his elbow in an attempt to get clear of this other skier who he hadn't known at the time was a policeman. Asked if the ski poles he had been using had wrist straps he said he couldn't remember. He denied using the term "don't you f g follow me" but might have said (to constable Phillips) "give me some room." "Ganging-up" He said that he had been unwilling to show his ski-pass ticket when asked to do so because he thought the ski patrol were being unreasonable and were "ganging up on me." Judge Watson in his summing up said that ski patrollers often have to assist with serious injuries caused sometimes by skiers who had put others at risk by skiing dangerously as defendant had done. Defendant had been skiing "like a loon" and it was perhaps singularly appropriate that the area of the ski field

where it had occurred was known as the "Yahoo." Judge Watson said that he was able to assess defendant's conduct from a background of his own 20 years experience of skiing on Whakapapa andTuroa. "You come from Thames but there is nothing worse or more frightening for beginners and intermediate skiers than what I call 'Auckland bombers' who ski straight and fast and pass so close to other people hoping they will hold their line and not deviate because there is nothing that can be done to avoid an accident if they do turn," he said. "And many slower, less experienced skiers, hearing someone coming down fast behind them, panic and do the wrong thing ... the ski patrollers will tell you that many accidents are caused that way." "Ski patrollers are there to observe skiers and prevent accidents and it was obvious to them that you were skiing too rapidly for your ability." "And your 'snow shower' stop was obviously done for the benefit of the people in the lift queue" "You say that you struck a patch of ice and slid into the Winter G arden area of beginners and intermediate skiers Turn page 16

Dangerous skiing From page 15 but a skier had an obligation to ski within his or her ability and within the prevailing conditions" Unacceptable risk He told defendant that his behaviour posed an unacceptable risk to other skiers and the ski patrollers had warned him at least three times on that day. "As far as your claim that constable Phillips had skied too close to you and you had elbowed him out of the way, an experienced skier would have widened the gap simply by turning his skis uphill and away." Defendant was convicted on both charges and ordered to come up for sentence if called within 12 months. He was ordered to pay costs of $65 on each charge. Defence counsel, in mitigation, stressed the serious consequences of these two convictions on an otherwise lawabiding young man and said that defendant had already incurred a great deal of expense in order to defend the action. He had also had to pay $200 for the hired Turoa skis which had been broken by someone outside the police office while he was being interviewed by constable Greg Phillips.