A young, Cork-based garda miraculously escaped serious injury early yesterday when he was thrown 30 feet into the air by a car which hit him at high speed while he was attending to a traffic accident. The driver of the car ran away and was later questioned in connection with another incident.
The passenger, who was cut from the car by a unit of Cork Fire Brigade, sustained serious injuries to his pelvis, leg and shoulder.
Garda Brian Shanahan (23), a native of Dungarvan, Co Waterford, where his father is also a garda, took up duty at Watercourse Road Garda station in the city last year as a replacement for one of two gardaí, Garda George Rice and Garda Seamus McIntyre, who died a year ago to the day, when their patrol went out of control as they were responding to an emergency call in the Blarney area. A number of gardaí from the station, including Garda Shanahan, had earlier attended an anniversary Mass for their late colleague in Kenmare, Co Kerry.
A Garda unit from Watercourse Road was dealing with a traffic accident involving a drunken driver at the Blackpool end of the North Ring Road, at almost the same spot where the two gardaí lost their lives last year, when the latest incident occurred.
Two men, driving a French-registered red Opel Cadet, approached at speed and the car hit Garda Shanahan, throwing him 30 feet into the air. Miraculously, according to Supt Martin Shanahan, who is leading the investigation, the young garda landed on a grass verge which was soft due to recent heavy rain and which almost certainly saved him from far more serious injury.
The car then careered into another car before coming to a halt.
The driver ran off, leaving his badly injured passenger in the car, described as a "company car," or one which has reached the end of its life and has practically no monetary value. He had to be cut from the wreck and was last night being treated at Cork University Hospital for a broken pelvis, leg, and shoulder bone.
Garda Shanahan suffered cracked ribs and was badly bruised, according to Supt Shanahan. His condition is stable.
Assistant Commissioner Adrian Culligan called yesterday for a ban on the sale of "company cars" either through garages or auctions. It was disgraceful, he added, that young people could buy such cars for as little as €50 and take them onto the streets without tax, insurance or a road worthiness certificate.
"The people who sell these cars to youngsters are, in effect, selling them lethal weapons. They might as well sell them a gun. At the end of the day, the public wind up paying the insurance claims against these cars. A stop will have to be put to their sale and it will have to happen as a matter of urgency," he added.
Following the hit-and-run, gardaí called to a house in the Mayfield area and arrested a man under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act in connection with an earlier incident in the Commons Road area of the city when two men filled their car at a petrol station and drove off without paying.
Meanwhile, the driver of a stolen BMW deliberately accelerated towards a group of police officers in north Belfast early yesterday morning, seriously injuring one of the officers, according to police.
The member of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), who suffered a broken pelvis, broken legs and broken ribs, as well as head injuries, was dragged for 250 metres along Clifton Street by the car.
The officer, with other PSNI members and British soldiers, was dealing with disturbances in north Belfast around 4 a.m. yesterday.
They were keeping rival nationalists and loyalists apart. One shot was fired at the car by the PSNI, according to police.
Det Sgt Kevin Geddes said police were treating the incident as attempted murder. He appealed for public assistance in tracing the driver.
"By the accounts of other officers and army personnel who were at the scene, this car appeared to stop first and accelerate at great speed towards this officer and other officers who managed to jump out of the way," said Sgt Geddes.
The red BMW was discovered abandoned in Ligoniel.
It had been stolen outside Maysfield Leisure centre close to Belfast city centre.