A young man who left his graduation ball early in a taxi was found dead on the M1 outside Drogheda about an hour later. The inquest into his death also heard he had been struck by at least one car.
Drogheda Coroner's Court heard yesterday that on July 28th last year, Darren McDonagh (18), Mell, Drogheda, Co Louth, left the Newgrange hotel, Navan, and took a taxi home at about 1.50am.
The taxi driver, Vincent Losty, said he stopped just after the M1 flyover on the Slane side of Drogheda to wake him as they were approaching the Mell roundabout.
Darren wanted to get out but the taxi driver left him a short distance from his home. However the inquest heard that about 40 minutes later, Darren stepped out in front of a lorry which was driving northwards on the motorway.
Lorry driver John McKee said he was "waving his hands as if he was trying to flag down a car". He blew his horn and flashed the lights and Darren stepped back. He thought he was a motorist whose car had broken down.
A few minutes later gardaí were called to the scene of an accident on the other side of the motorway. Darren had been struck by a car, his body was underneath the bonnet of that car which was in turn hit by another lorry.
Louth county coroner Ronan Maguire said the driver of the car was from Northern Ireland and he had told the Garda he would not be making himself available to the inquest. "There is nothing I can do under the law to bring him here," Mr Maguire said.
The jury returned a verdict of accidental death.