RAN INTO PEDESTRIANS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 622, 26 March 1929, Page 9

RAN INTO PEDESTRIANS

WOMAN DRIVER’S TRAGIC EXPERIENCE

EVIDENCE AT INQUEST (ipecxil to THIS SLW J CHRISTCHURCH, Monda'■, The woman driver of the car which knocked down and fatally injured James Johnstone, of Dargavilla. was too ill to give evidence at the inquest. The coroner found that death was due to shock associated with a fractured skull and laceration of the brain, caused by being knocked down by a motor-car driven by Isabella Stanley. The other victim of the accident, Mr. Edward Albert Boldero. of Tennyson Avenue, Takapuna, is still in hospital, and was also unable to give evidence. Alexander Whisker said he witnessed the accident at the corner of Belfast and Manchester -’Street. Two m en were ahead of him. He noticed one man step back when a motor-car came round the corner from Manchester Street. The car struck both men, and knocked them down. It then mounted the footpath and ran along until it collided with a stationary car 60 feet from where the men were struck. Later, witness saw the driver, Mrs. Stanley, assisted into the lounge of an hotel. He heard her say several times They would not get out of my way.” The car was travelling “a good 23 miles an hour.” Constable Schrafft said he saw Mrs. Stanley after the accident. She was lying on a bed in the hotel in an hysterical condition. She said: ’Tell me what happened. I did not see any man.' Later she said: *1 ddi not see the men until it was too late.” Sergeant Harrison said he interviewed Mrs. Stanley next day. She was crying, and said: “I did not kill a man.” She denied that she was driving fast. The coroner was informed by Mr. Sargent, solicitor, that Mrs. Stanley would be unable to give evidence owing to the state of her health. Mrs. Helen Humphreys, called by Mr. Sargent, said she saw the accident. The men seemed to hesitate in crossing the street. The car was not travelling faster than 10 miles an hour. After the accident she saw a car come out of Belfast Street at a fast rate. One of the men who had been knocked down by Mrs. Stanley’s car had been lying in the middle of the road. After rhe second car had passed, the man was lying almost in the gutter.