A GARDA told an inquest yesterday that a colleague screamed in pain moments after their patrol car was struck at “phenomenal speed” by another car.
Garda Gary McLoughlin (24) died after suffering multiple injuries as a result of the crash on December 13th, 2009, at Lisfannon, Burt, Co Donegal.
The inquest into the death of the garda, from Foxfield, Fenagh, Co Leitrim, heard how he was asked to assist detectives pursuing a car during a 30km chase.
Garda detectives Noel Jones and Bernard Mullins had followed a red Opel Astra after it had sped off from the Grove garage at Bridgend earlier that night.
The Astra, driven by Martin McDermott, had reached speeds of more than 150km/h as he tried to get away from gardaí.
Gardaí Jones and Mullins alerted Garda Gary McLoughlin and his partner Garda Bernard McLaughlin that the car was coming their way.
Garda Bernard McLaughlin recalled that his partner had slowed down and was travelling on the hard shoulder to get the car’s registration number. Seconds later, McDermott came at them on the wrong side of the road.
“I saw a haze of lights and Gary said, ‘This is him.’ I studied the car and realised instantly it was travelling towards us at phenomenal speed and I shouted that he was going to hit us. It was like a rocket.
“Gary pulled left hard into the ditch and if he hadn’t it would have hit us straight on,” he said.
Garda McLaughlin said he awoke to find his partner trapped in the car. “He was in a lot of pain and was calling for his mum and dad, Noel and Una, and his girlfriend Shauna,” he said.
Martin McDermott, now 26, of Castlegrove, Raphoe, was thrown out of his car and was found 55m down the road by gardaí.
McDermott, who has previously been jailed for eight years for the manslaughter of Garda McLoughlin, was twice over the legal drink-driving limit.
Garda McLoughlin was cut from the car and rushed to Letterkenny General Hospital. He died the following day at 2.20am, after suffering two cardiac arrests.
The late garda’s parents, Una and Noel, girlfriend Shauna Bradley and extended family were in court for the inquest. The jury of seven women and two men took just 20 minutes to return a verdict of unlawful killing.
Coroner John Cannon said: “The loss of Gary McLoughlin, a young and gallant officer, reminds us of the ultimate sacrifice by gardaí, and we are reminded of the burdens and demands placed on gardaí.”