The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-06-18

nied Dufresne was under the inf1u- ence and said he did not hear him say he would be willing to appear as a witness against Wolff.
 Attorney Fitzgerald claimed in his opening argument for the state that the reason the accident hap pened was because Wolff was not looking where he was going. He de- scribed Wolff's operation of his car as gross and wilful negligence with disregard for the rights of the officers who were performing their duty that night" Attorney Fitzger- aid scoffed at Wolff's story that the reason the accident happened was because he was blinded by the ap- proach of an oncoming car. He called attention to Wolff's testimony that his car was equipped with the most powerful lights the state would allow and asked what in the world good were they. He added that the lights must certainly have illumined the shadows Wolff said were behind the Dufresne car. He said if Wolff were watching the highway he cer- tainly couldn't have escaped seeing the Dufresne car standing in his path. Mir Fitzgerald said Wolff vio- lated all the rules of the highway by driving to the right of the Dufresne car when he saw he was on top of it.
 MT Fitzgerald claimed that Wolff had failed to meet the states case when he made an attempt to rob the credibility of the states wit nesses, Dufresne and Officer Petit by stating Dufresne was drunk and that he was biased.
 Attorney Carmody in his argu- ment claimed the state had failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Wolff was driving his car in a gross and willful manner, the grounds on which the statutes say automobile homicide is based. He said it was very unusual and sad pointed out that the most import ant element in the case was the tail lamp on the Dufresne car. He said the states witnesses were not pos itive in their testimony that the light was lit that night and that it's illumination was not obscured by the position of Officer Petit as he started to push the Oufresne car to the side of the road.
 Late Evidence Yesterday.
 Headlights of an approaching automobile blinded him on the night of last Nov 18th so that he did not see the car Patrolman Me- Nally and Petit were pushing until he was almost on top of them, Ad- rian Wolff, A, told a jury in superior court yesterday afternoon. The jury and Judge Frank P. McEyoy are hearing the case in which Wolff is charged with automobile homicide.
 Wolff said he was proceeding along East Main street after having had his own head lights adjusted and was travelling between 25 and 30 miles an hour. He said he was on his way to spend the night at Hitchcock's Lake, where he owns a cottage and where he was spend ing practically every night. Con- tinuing, he explained that he saw a car approaching from the opposite direction whose headlights were particularly bright. He said he was almost blinded. All of a sudden, he said, he saw a large shadow in front of him and notice a man To avoid the man he said he applied both the foot and emergency brakes and swing to the left. He did not see Officer McNally until it was too late. He said after his machine had struck the officer, it was almost at a standstill.
 Under cross examination. he ad- mitted he did not blow his horn because it would have taken his hands from attempting to bring the car to halt. He told of helping the injured officer to the hospital and of being examined at police headquarters by Coroner John T. Monzani. He said he was upset at the station and could not remember what he told the coroner.