Dad pushed daughter to safety before fatal accident with SUV
A DUBLIN grandfather has been praised as a hero for pushing his daughter to one side before they were both hit by an SUV in a tragic accident that left him dead.
Martin Finn (60), from Gurteen Avenue in Ballyfermot, Dublin, was walking along the Newcastle Road in west Dublin with his daughter Abbie (18) on Tuesday night when they were struck from behind.
The pair had just been feeding their horses in a nearby field and were making their way back to Mr Finn’s wife Carol, who was parked nearby, when tragedy struck.
Abbie was seriously injured in the accident and is currently in the Mater Hospital.
“She has broken bones in her neck and is in a special brace to stop her moving her head, but she could have been killed,” Mrs Finn told the Irish Independent.
“I had to break the news to her on Wednesday night that her daddy was dead, and she said the last thing she remembers is him pushing her to the side,” she said.
Mrs Finn recalled the sequence of events that led to the tragedy.
“I dropped them up to feed the horses and then parked the car and waited. Martin rang me from the field and asked where I parked and I told him. Then Abbie texted me to say they were on their way,” she said.
“Then somebody came up to the car and asked was I waiting for two people.
“I said I was and she said ‘there’s after being an accident up the road’, and I just ran up and saw Martin on one side of the road and Abbie on the other.
“Gardaí and the ambulances arrived. They were working on Martin for around 20 minutes, but I had an awful feeling he was gone.
“We went to Tallaght Hospi- tal after the ambulances and then Abbie was transferred to the Mater. The nurses took me into a family room and then I knew Martin was dead. They didn’t have to tell me.”
Mrs Finn, who is a cousin of soccer star Paul McGrath, said breaking the news to Abbie was very difficult.
She described her husband as a quiet man with a gentle spirit. “He never had a bad word to say about anyone. When it came to Abbie, she was his pride and joy,” she said.
The broken-hearted mother described her husband’s death and her daughter’s injury as a tragic accident.
“The poor driver of the SUV was shaking. We want him to know that it was an accident,” she said.
The road where Mr Finn and Abbie were walking has no footpath or street lights, and Mrs Finn has urged people to make themselves visible when they are walking in the dark.
“They were wearing dark clothes. Martin had a head torch facing forward but they were hit from behind. I would urge people to wear high-visibility clothing and reflectors and lights if they are out at night,” she said.