Fatal M50 crash ‘is impossible to explain’ TAXI DRIVER (70) DROVE INTO PARKED TRUCK
AN INQUEST yesterday heard it was impossible to explain the death of a taxi driver who veered off the M50 motorway and crashed into a broken-down truck.
Michael Sterio (70), a married father of six of Garthy Wood, Knocklyon, Co Dublin, died instantly in the collision on the southbound side of the M50 between Junction 12 (Firhouse) and Junction 13 (Dundrum/Sandyford) at 2.40pm on September 8, 2020.
Dublin District Coroner’s Court yesterday heard evidence from several eye-witnesses that the victim’s silver Renault Fluence had suddenly veered off the left lane of the motorway.
Denis Joyce, a driver with Kilsaran Concrete, said he was sitting on the hard shoulder of the M50 after a blowout when he heard a bang at the back of the truck.
When he got out, he found a car underneath his truck with a man slumped across the steering wheel.
Gillian Comerford, who was driving directly behind Mr Sterio’s taxi, said she saw the car veer towards the hard shoulder and crash into the truck.
“It was very smoothly done. It was just drifting. There was no indicator,” she added.
She said there was no sign of the taxi slowing down until one second before the crash when she saw its brake lights go on.
Hazard
After the collision, she told the court the front of the taxi was “non-existent”.
Another motorist, Sinead Young, who was in the southbound middle lane approximately parallel with the taxi, also saw it suddenly veer off.
Ms Young said the truck did not have any hazard lights on and noted the crash happened “in a flash.”
Paramedic Ken O’Dwyer said Mr
Sterio was “beyond medical help”. Forensic collision investigator Garda Barry McCormack said he found no evidence to explain why the deceased’s vehicle had veered off onto the hard shoulder.
He told the court: “The use of the brake light shows there was
conscious control.”
Coroner Dr Cróna Gallagher said the autopsy had found no evidence to suggest he had suffered some acute medical event, while alcohol was not a factor. Returning an open verdict, she added: “It’s unclear why this happened. “We don’t know what caused him to make that movement. It happened in a split second with catastrophic consequences.” Investigating Garda Patrick Tarrant said no criminal prosecution had arisen from the case.
HEARING: Garda Patrick Tarrant Acute
“One of the possible defendants is wellknown movie actor
Alec Baldwin,” she said in an August 30 letter requesting additional funding to prosecute the high-profile case.
Four jury trials with each defendant charged under some variation of state homicide statutes are possible, CarmackAltwies told the board.
Baldwin has denied responsibility for Hutchins’ death and said live rounds should never have been allowed onto the set.