Safety concerns led gardaí to abandon a chase of a stolen car driving the wrong way down a motorway in Co Cork minutes before it was involved in a fatal crash.
Gardaí were trying to apprehend the Toyota Corolla in the early hours of Saturday morning when it went on to the M8 Cork to Dublin motorway at Mitchelstown and turned south on to the northward bound lane, where it later crashed into another car.
A 16-year-old front-seat passenger in the car, who has been named locally as Johnny Foley from Spur Hill in Cork city, was fatally injured in the crash which happened at Ballybeg, south of Mitchelstown.
The 17-year-old driver of the stolen vehicle and three other occupants of the car, a 16-year-old boy, a 19-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl were all taken to Cork University Hospital (CUH) for treatment.
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The driver of the other car, a 37-year-old woman, living in Glanmire on the outskirts of Cork city, was also taken by ambulance to CUH with what one source said were “serious life-changing injuries”.
The crash happened after gardaí had pursued a stolen car. They called off their pursuit after it drove down the up ramp on to the northbound lane and proceeded to head south towards Fermoy against the oncoming traffic.
It is understood that the stolen Toyota Corolla collided head on with a car heading northbound at Ballybeg, some 5km south of where it had entered the M8 motorway.
Gardaí say they are dealing with an increasing number of incidents of suspects driving the wrong way down motorways or dual carriageways in an effort to escape. In almost all circumstances, safety protocols mean pursuing gardaí are required to call off a chase once a car enters the motorway on the wrong side.
“They know we can’t chase them and they are taking advantage of that,” said one garda. “If we do give chase we are the ones facing discipline.”
In May, Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said the force was reviewing the procedures for high speed pursuits in light of such concerns after it emerged a garda is to face trial for dangerous driving for his involvement in a pursuit which ended in the deaths of three members of a burglary gang in south Dublin in 2021.
“It’s very sad – there’s a 16-year-old lad dead and five others in hospital. It’s a terrible tragedy but it could have been worse because it was like a war zone there with all the injuries,” said one source following Saturday’s crash.
Gardaí closed the road on Saturday and put in place local diversions as a forensic crash investigator began an examination of the scene, the road reopened at about 6pm on the same day.
Gardaí have appealed to anyone who may have witnessed the incident or who may have video footage (including dashcam) to contact Mitchelstown Garda station on 025-84833.
Meanwhile, the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (Gsoc) has began an investigation into the fatal collision because of the Garda interaction with occupants of the car before the fatal collision.
Gsoc confirmed that it received a referral in relation to the fatal collision near Mitchelstown from a Garda superintendent under section 102(1) of An Garda Síochána Act, 2005.
“The matter is now under examination by Gsoc further to section 91 of the An Garda Síochána Act, 2005. As such, no further comment will be made at this time,” it said.
