A MAN was last night under psychiatric assessment after he was arrested while driving around the runway area at Cork Airport in a fire service vehicle he had seized from staff. He had earlier stabbed a garda in Cork city centre and made off in a Garda Traffic Corps SUV.
The man, understood to be originally from Waterford and aged 38, was arrested after he was immobilised by members of the Regional Support Unit, who used taser guns after he got out of the fire tender vehicle he had hijacked at the airport. The man, who had stripped down to his underpants, was handcuffed and brought to Togher Garda station. It is understood he was later transferred to Cork University Hospital for assessment.
The incident began at about 4.30pm when the man approached a Garda Traffic Corps SUV stopped in traffic outside Dunnes Stores on Patrick Street in Cork city centre. He jumped in and threatened a garda with a 12in kitchen knife.
He scraped the garda from the ear to the mouth and down to his neck with the knife before forcing him from the vehicle and driving off down pedestrianised Winthop Street and Oliver Plunkett Street, forcing people to flee. He then drove towards Cork Airport and rammed through the perimeter fence.
However, the garda, who wasn’t seriously injured, managed to report the incident and a number of Garda units pursued the man on to the airport runway. He rammed an unmarked Garda car, hurting a detective in the back-seat. The detective suffered a neck injury. The man then abandoned the stolen Garda SUV and approached a fire service SUV. Brandishing the knife, he ordered two people out of the vehicle.
He then took off in this second vehicle, and was pursued by gardaí. He drove around the airport before striking a luggage truck, ending up close to an Aer Lingus aircraft. The incident lasted 10 minutes.
Members of the Regional Support Unit armed with guns had been cleared to use necessary force against the suspect, including shooting him. He was disarmed with a taser, subdued and arrested. The incident was witnessed by passengers in the terminal building. One source told The Irish Times it was a miracle that no one was seriously hurt, given his actions.
“If he had hit a fuel truck we could have had dozens of casualties. There was an Airbus 320 charter flight boarding at the time carrying pilgrims to Lourdes but, luckily, no one was injured.”
An Aer Lingus Airbus 320 had also flown in from Barcelona and passengers had disembarked.
A Cork Airport spokeswoman said the incident caused minimum disruption, with the private charter flight to Lourdes having to be postponed from 5.30pm to 5.58pm, but otherwise flights continued as normal at the airport.