A senior Garda officer from its west Cork division has been appointed to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of a 36-year-old man whose car crashed while being followed by a number of Garda cars in Cork city after he failed to stop.
Supt Pat Maher of Clonakilty station has launched the investigation into the incident which led to the death on Saturday evening of William Anthony O'Driscoll from Kenley Circle, Model Farm Road in Cork city.
Mr O'Driscoll is understood to have been killed instantly when he was thrown through the driver's window of his Omega Opel car when it crashed into an embankment and trees on the South Link Road near Vernonmount at about 5.40pm on Saturday.
According to Supt Maher, gardaí received a report of dangerous driving at Killalough, Glanmire, at about 5.25pm from a motorist. Gardaí from Glanmire were dispatched to the main Cork-Fermoy Road to investigate.
The car passed gardaí, who signalled to it to stop by following it with its blue light flashing and its siren sounding, but the car continued at high speed for more than 6km (about four miles) down the Glanmire bypass and through the Jack Lynch Tunnel.
The car also sped past a Garda car from Blackrock station at a slip road at the Mahon turn-off. Both Garda cars continued after the motorist but lost sight of him going westward as he went over the Douglas flyover at high speed before he struck a car also going west.
After veering across to the right and hitting a central barrier, the car careered up an embankment on the left hand side of the road and collided with some trees before overturning. Gardaí were quickly on the scene and alerted the emergency services, but the driver was pronounced dead at the scene.
The man's body was removed to Cork University Hospital where a postmortem examination was carried out yesterday morning by Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster.
The man suffered extensive facial injuries and gardaí spent several hours trying to identify him before establishing that he was William O'Driscoll, a member of the Travelling community whose family live at an encampment in Upper Glanmire.
Gardaí from Glanmire travelled to the encampment to make inquiries and inform relatives, but matters soon turned violent, with some men from the encampment hijacking two cars. Garda reinforcements were called in.
Two Garda vehicles were attacked, with a patrol car from Cobh having its windscreen smashed. A garda from Anglesea Street suffered an injury to his eye when the side window of a personnel carrier from Cork city was smashed.
Supt Pat Sheahan from Cobh requested that the Cork North Divisional Public Order Unit be drafted in, and the eight-man team, equipped with riot gear, was held in reserve at the scene as Supt Sheahan sought to defuse the situation.
According to Supt Sheahan, certain assurances were given by a number of men at the site that there would be no further incidents, but when a stone was thrown and smashed the windscreen of a passing car, the public order unit was deployed.
Three men in their 20s put up initial resistance but were then overpowered and all three were arrested and brought to Cobh Garda station for questioning.
Meanwhile, Supt Maher has appealed to anyone travelling on either the Glanmire bypass or the South Link Road who saw the Opel Omega or witnessed the fatal collision involving Mr O'Driscoll to contact Togher Garda station on 021-4947120.