WA: Man run over after off-duty officer intervenes in fight

AAP General News (Australia)
12-07-2003
WA: Man run over after off-duty officer intervenes in fight

PERTH, Dec 7 AAP - West Australian police have launched an internal investigation after
a man was run over by a truck following a fight outside a pub that an off-duty policeman
tried to stop.

Police said a 45-year-old man began fighting with another patron outside the Kojonup
pub, 256km south-west of Perth, about 12.40am (WST) yesterday.

"There was an off-duty policeman who'd also been at the pub at the time and he's jumped
in to try to separate the two of them," South-West district Superintendent John Watson
said.

"One of the men has continued to be aggressive and the officer tried to calm him down."

He said the man then ran in front of a semi-trailer that was passing the hotel.

The truck dragged the man about 100 metres along the road. He was later airlifted
to Royal Perth Hospital with serious injuries.

Supt Watson said an internal police investigation into the incident was underway because
it happened in the presence of a police officer.

The injured man, who had recently moved to Kojonup from Perth, remains in a serious
but stable condition today with severe leg injuries.

AAP alm/drp

KEYWORD: PUB

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