Case ID: ga-app_36/html/0662-02.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "Broyles, C. J.", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

17941.
    Thomas v. The State.
    Decided April 12, 1927.
    Assault and battery; from Wilkes superior court — Judge Perry-man. December 29, 1926.'
    The indictment charged Solomon Sampson and Florence Thomas with “the offense of misdemeanor,” for that they unlawfully made an assault upon Annie Heard and beat and wounded her with a Ford automobile-truck, which was driven by said Florence Thomas by permission of said Solomon Sampson, said Florence Thomas, to the knowledge of said Solomon Sampson, being an inexperienced driver, “and said Florence Thomas, with the consent of said Solomon Sampson, did then and there use, drive, and operate saicf Ford truck, which she was unable to operate and control with safety to pedestrians using the streets, in the City of Washington, to wit on Whitehall street, without regard to the traffic and use of said street by pedestrians, and at a rate of speed calculated to endanger the lives and limbs of persons on said street, and at a greater rate. of speed than ten' miles per hour at an intersection of said street called Alabama street, when and whereupon said Florence Thomas, with consent of said Solomon Sampson, did drive said truck against and over said Annie Heard, then and there severely injuring said Annie Heard, and did then and there refuse and fail to render any aid or assistance to said Annie Heard, contrary to the laws of said State,” etc.
    
      Assault and Battery, 5 C. J. p. 788, n. 2.'
    Criminal Law, 16 C. J. p. 1178, n. 63.
   Broyles, C. J.

The verdict was not authorized by the evidence, and the refusal of the court to grant a new trial was error.

Judgment reversed.

Luke and Bloodworth, JJ., concur.

From the evidence it appears that a Ford truck “that Solomon Sampson drove” and in which he was riding at night with Florence Thomas (a woman) was being driven by Florence Thomas when it struck Annie Heard, who testified: “That truck was running right fast, . . faster than a man could trot; . . it didn’t give any signal to turn as I got in the middle of the road. It seems as it was a reckless driver. I was in plain view of. that truck when they ran over me. I was going straight up Whitehall and the truck was coming down Whitehall, and as I got out in the middle of the road, . '. they cut in on me and the truck knocked me down and hurt me. . . That truck did not slacken speed. . . They kept driving in full speed. . . I could tell from the way they turned that it was an ignorant driver. I was in plain view of them before they cut in on me, and they could have seen me. . . If they had made any signal like they were cutting in, I wouldn’t have gone across.” When arrested, Florence Thomas, according to the testimony of the arresting officer, said “she didn’t know how to drive and was just learning how; she said she saw this woman and she couldn’t stop. She said she saw her and forgot how to stop.” Yiola Shank testified that she herself was on the truck when Annie Heard “got run over. . . She was driving slow, because she didn’t know how to drive. She turned the corner slow and was right on Annie before she saw her. . . I was so scared I don’t know whether they tried to stop it or not. . . She didn’t get any faster.”

The defendant, in her statement at the trail, said: “I was so .gpared I didn’t know what to do that night that lady got hurt. She was coming across this way and I was driving the truck as slow as I could, and she looked up and saw the truck, and the left wheel knocked her down, and up a little further Solomon stopped the car for me. When we stopped she got up and went across the street. We stopped and started to come back. She got up, so we went on home.”

Hugh E. Combs, for plaintiff in error.

M. L. Felts, solicitor-general, contra.