Major Garda chase incident as car ends up in crash

April 2009

A Dundalk-based garda is recovering after he is knocked down by a car as he deploys a stinger device.

The incident occurs as his colleagues are pursuing a vehicle they think is acting suspiciously at Greenacres.

The car speeds away as gardaí try to stop it on the Avenue Road. Officers give chase in a patrol car.

The vehicle they are pursuing goes the wrong way around the roundabout at the end of the Avenue Road before heading up the Inner Relief Road at high speed.

A garda is ahead of the car on a footpath near the Barrack Street lights and is going to deploy a stinger device when he is knocked down by a car which mounts the pavement and doesn’t stop.

The guard’s injuries are not thought to be life-threatening.

As it heads towards the border, the car drives on the wrong side of the Inner Relief Road, and goes around the Red Cow and Ballymascanlon roundabouts the wrong way.

Gardaí say the vehicle travels towards Major’s Hollow on the old Newry Road before heading onto the N1 slipway. It goes north on the dual carriageway’s southern lane.

A short time later, the car re-appears at the Ballymascanlon roundabout and is in collision with a car while it drives around the roundabout the wrong way.

The car spins out of control and stops. Three men run from the vehicle and are chased by gardaí through nearby fields. Later, a man in his twenties is arrested.

He later appears in court on dangerous driving charges.