Cop Ran Over Drunk Man In Road

An inquest has heard that a young man, who died after he was crushed by a car - driven by an off-duty garda on his way home from a night out - was lying on the road, intoxicated, when he was run-over.

Derek O'Toole (24), of Shancastle Drive, Clondalkin, Dublin, died of crush injuries to his head and chest in the early hours of March 4, after he was rolled over by a car driven by Damien Carey (27), of Blanchardstown station.

Dublin County Coroner's Court heard that Gda Carey had also been drinking over the course of his evening.

He had been celebrating a colleague's 30th birthday and consumed three pints of Guinness and just under two bottles of Corona.

He was just under the legal limit for drink driving, with a breathalyser reading of 31 mgs of alcohol per 100 mgs of breath, at the time of the incident.

The legal limit is 35 mgs per 100 mgs of breath.

State pathologist Marie Cassidy told the inquest that Mr O'Toole's injuries were consistent with run-over type injuries.

"Mr O'Toole's injuries were consistent with the wheels of the vehicle going across the body. One wheel definitely went over his head, but I can't exclude (the possibility) that two wheels went over him," said Dr Cassidy.

"He was intoxicated by alcohol and may have been unsteady and could have fallen and, while he was lying on the ground, he was run over by a vehicle. It's an internationally recognised phenomenon, where a young male who was intoxicated lies on a road and is run over," she said.

Mr O'Toole had "fairly high" levels of alcohol in his blood at the time of his death, with 238 mgs pc of alcohol in his blood and 218 mgs pc in his urine.

The incident occurred at approximately 4.30am, when Gda Carey was driving home with his girlfriend, Gda Deirdre Foley, and two other colleagues after a birthday celebration in Clonee.

Gda Carey told the court that the four friends left the party at Littlepace, Clonee, at around 4.20am and he decided to drive because they couldn't get a taxi.

Gda Carey was travelling at approximately 30mph, and had taken the first exit at a roundabout at the Ulster Bank, when "this thing appeared out of nowhere, which appeared to be a black bag. It didn't look like a body. As soon as I saw it, I swerved the car to the right. I stopped two car lengths from the object. I knew I had run over something - to me it was like going over a bottle," he said.

When Gda Carey reversed his car, he realised it was a body.

"At that stage I kind of froze," he told the court.

All of the three passengers described feeling the car roll over something, which they initially believed to be cat or dog.

"I felt a slight bump -- a very slight bump and I didn't think it was anything," Ms Foley told the inquest.

The jury returned a verdict of death by misadventure.

(BMcC)