Garda awarded €27,000 for clothes line injury

A young garda, who was injured while attempting to arrest a man who had been involved in two shootings, has been awarded just over €27,000 damages in the High Court.

Crime Task Force member Kieran O'Sullivan told Mr Justice Dan Herbert that in February 2008 he had been on patrol car duty with a colleague when they saw a man acting suspiciously around parked cars near Dolphin House flats.

When they stopped him for questioning he ran off and he gave chase under a row of clothes lines in the flats complex. As Garda O’Sullivan was about to grab him the man pulled a clothes line down which hit Garda O’Sullivan in the face and threw him to the ground.

O’Sullivan told the High Court garda compensation hearing today that his colleague managed to catch the suspect and detain and arrest him.

He said he had been unable to assist his colleague because of injuries he sustained to both his arms when he had fallen during the chase.

Garda O’Sullivan said he was attached to Pearse Street Garda station and it was discovered following the arrest that the man they had chased had earlier been involved in two separate shootings.

Judge Herbert said Garda O’Sullivan had suffered injuries to both his arms including a fractured bone in his left hand. The main injury had not fully cleared up for almost two years.

Awarding him €27,222 damages against the Minister for Finance, Judge Herbert said there was no functional threat to Garda O’Sullivan’s career.