THREE CO Wexford men say they were lucky to walk away unhurt after they unwittingly foiled a bank robber as he tried to escape from police during a high-speed chase in the United States just before Christmas.
Well-known businessman Billy Roche, who has just returned from the US, his son Niall and son-in-law Patrick Peare, all from Rosslare, were in Saratoga Springs, New York, when their car was hit by an SUV driven by a bank robber from Baltimore.
The crash halted Daniel Freeland, who was arrested after the 40 km (25 mile) high-speed chase. Earlier, a state trooper fired two shots at him while he was stopped at a railroad crossing.
“We were just going across the junction as we had the green light. Out of nowhere, this guy came and smashed straight into our car,” said Mr Roche.
“He hit me in front of my knee and took the whole front off the car. If he had hit us another few feet back, he would have wiped us out,” said the front-seat passenger in the rented Toyota Camry.
“He was travelling about 100mph. It was only at the very last second that I saw him.”
Luckily, none of the three sustained any serious injuries, apart from some back trouble for Mr Roche.
“Just after the accident we were sitting in the middle of the road. And then, all of a sudden, there was up to 50 squad cars, a helicopter and the whole lot around us,” he said.
It was a few minutes before they realised they had halted a bank robber. Mr Roche said the SUV driven by Freeland did “a triple somersault” following the collision, but he still managed to put up a struggle with the arresting officers.
Mr Roche said he was in shock for the rest of that day, but later attended a Christmas party at his son Niall’s new pub in Saratoga Springs, where the drama was the talk of the party.
“The mayor was there . . . and said when we come back over in May he’ll give us medals for foiling a bank robber,” he laughed.