Gardaí have arrested a man for questioning after an armed officer fired a shot into the cab of a lorry after its driver rammed a number of Garda cars following a 15km pursuit by officers earlier today.
A 36-year-old Hungarian national was arrested by gardaí after a member of the Armed Support Unit in Cork fired a shot through the windscreen of the lorry after the man failed to obey a Garda direction to stop in the car park of a commercial premises at Forge Hill in Togher, Cork city.
The man had earlier driven to West Cork in a van he had allegedly stolen in the Mount Farran area of Blackpool in Cork City on Sunday night. He then drove to the Pike outside Clonakilty, where he allegedly committed a burglary before driving to Owenahincha, where he allegedly broke into another house.
The man then returned to the Pike where he abandoned the stolen van and allegedly stole a truck some time around 7am, heading back towards Cork city on the main N71 only to come to Garda attention on the western outskirts of Bandon at about 10am.
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Gardaí mounted a checkpoint on the N71 at the Half Way between Innishannon and Cork city to apprehend the man, but he ignored Garda directions to stop and drove through the checkpoint, and gardaí pursued him after he turned off for Ballinhassig.
The man then drove via back roads towards Cork Airport before heading for Lehanaghmore in Togher in the southern suburbs of Cork city, where he pulled into the car park of a commercial premises on Forge Hill after gardaí had called off the pursuit.
Gardaí approached the truck in the car park and signalled to the man to get out, but he ignored their demands and rammed two Garda cars as well as a number of parked cars belonging to customers as he tried to flee.
It was decided the man was posing a serious risk to other road users and to gardaí, and a member of the Armed Support Unit discharged a shot from his gun, hitting the windscreen of the truck. The vehicle came to a halt.
The driver of the truck was not injured when the shot was discharged, nor was any one else during the 15km pursuit from the Half Way to Togher, nor when the Garda cars and other parked cars were hit in the car park.
The man, who is living in Cork City, was arrested at the scene and taken for questioning to Bandon Garda station, where he is being held under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, which allows gardaí to detain suspects for up to 24 hours.
According to the Garda Press Office, the stolen vehicle was observed in the Togher area of Cork this morning. “The vehicle failed to stop when directed to do so by gardaí. A managed containment operation was put in place by gardaí and the operation later ended in the Forge Hill area of Togher.
“A man aged in his 30s was arrested by gardaí and is currently detained at a Garda station in the Southern Region under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984. Two Garda vehicles were damaged in the course of this operation. No injuries were reported.”
The Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission later confirmed in a statement that, in keeping with standard procedures, it had been notified by An Garda Síochána of the discharge of a firearm during “a vehicle containment incident in Cork today”.
