Gardaí investigating the hit-and-run crash that killed delivery cyclist Thiago Cortes in Dublin during the summer have arrested the teenage suspect.
The juvenile was on Friday being questioned by gardai from Store St Garda station and is the first person to be arrested since the killing.
A suspect, believed to be the driver of the car that hit Mr Cortes, was previously interviewed without being arrested.
“He is currently detained in Store Street Garda Station under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act,” Garda Headquarterssaid in a brief statement confirming the arrest of a teenager on Friday morning.
Mr Cortes (28) died after he was hit by a car being driven at speed on North Wall Quay on Monday, August 31st, at about 10.30pm. The driver of the car then sped away from the scene and later abandoned the vehicle.
Mr Cortes, who was from Brazil, was delivering food by bicycle for Deliveroo at the time he was hit by the car and had started the job just weeks before he was killed.
He was still alive at the scene when emergency services arrived and was treated by paramedics. Mr Cortes was then taken by ambulance to the Mater Hospital for further medical treatment but despite efforts to save him he died in hospital on Wednesday, September 2nd.
Immediately after the crash occurred gardaí began a major criminal investigation, which has intensified after Mr Cotes died. Within days gardaí from Store Street said they were confident they knew the identity of the driver.
Up to three other people, all believed to be teenagers, are believed to have been in the car with the driver at the time of the hit and run and gardaí believe they know their identities.
Gardaí seized a car at Castleforbes Square in Dublin’s north inner city shortly after the fatal hit and run and they believe that vehicle was the car that hit Mr Cortes.
It appears the car, which was effectively scrap, had been bought by local teenagers and was being driven around erratically before the crash.
The vehicle was recorded at several locations on CCTV systems in the north inner city, including around the time of the fatal crash. A very well attended vigil in honour of Mr Cortes, who had in the weeks before his death become engaged in Dublin, was held in Dublin after his death.
