Mini-stroke possible cause of fatal crash

A PALLOTINE priest who spent 50 years as a missionary in Argentina may have suffered a mini-stroke which caused him to crash into a van while driving near his home in Kerry last summer, an inquest heard.

Fr Florence O'Carroll (76), Parknageragh, Abbeydorney, was killed when his Opel Astra crashed into the rear of a Volkswagen van driven by Mike Carroll at Ardcullen on the Ballybunion to Ballyduff road on August 23rd, 2007.

Mr Carroll told the inquest he had been driving home with his wife, Martina, at about 8pm and had stopped to turn right when their van was hit from behind in a severe impact. The inquest at Cork City Coroner's Court heard that Fr O'Carroll was brought to Kerry General Hospital in Tralee. He was transferred to Cork University Hospital for neurosurgery but died there on August 29th.

Sgt John O'Gorman, who investigated the crash, said that while no one had witnessed it, three witnesses had seen Fr O'Carroll's car rolling diagonally down a slight incline at the staggered junction.

It appeared that he had crashed into the rear of Mr Carroll's van and his car was knocked out of gear and it rolled back some 40 metres on to the wrong side of the road, said Sgt O'Gorman, adding that driving conditions were good.

Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster reported that she could find no evidence of Fr O'Carroll suffering a major heart attack or stroke, but the postmortem did reveal a history of transient ischaemic attacks, or mini-strokes.

Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane said Fr O'Carroll may have had such a mini-stroke.