Driver ran across lanes of motorway

A man whose car had broken down, ran across the motorway to the meridian and banged his head off the railing, Bray District Court heard last Thursday.

Paddy O’Brien (34), 9 Coolevin, Ballybrack, was the driver of a car stopped in the driving lane on the N11 northbound at Bray on April 28, 2018 at 6.20 a.m.

Gardaí pulled in and spoke to O’Brien and a passenger. O’Brien said that the car had broken down and he asked for help to get it started.

The court heard that gardai noticed that O’Brien was drunk.

He became irate when gardai were unable to provide assistance. That was when he ran across the lanes. He ran back and was bleeding from the banging of his head. He started to shout that the gardai had done it. He then shouted to gardai that he would take their f ***ing heads off.

They used pepper spray to subdue O’Brien and he was handcuffed. He told gardai at the scene and at the station that his name was Martin O’Brien, and continued to be aggressive in the patrol car.

O’Brien had 50 previous convictions. Solicitor Andrew Vallaly said that O’Brien’s two children had died of a rare condition and that he has issues around alcohol. He has been engaging with services and has had no alcohol for the last number of months. He asked his solicitor to apologise to the court and the gardai.

Judge David Kennedy adjourned the matter to February 11 for a probation report.