The male driver of a car that collided with a double decker bus in Dublin causing a significant road traffic crash last Friday was suspected of being the driver of a car that sped away from gardaí a number of years ago.
The man, in his 20s and with previous addresses in west Dublin and the south inner city, was previously sanctioned with a driving ban that was not due to expire until next year.
He was wanted on an outstanding warrant when last Friday night’s crash occurred and after being treated in hospital for crash injuries he was brought before the courts relating to that warrant and was free to go after that brief court hearing.
Gardaí said the investigation into the crash last Friday night in Dublin 4 was continuing.
The Irish Times understands the bus driver fractured his pelvis and broke both of his legs. One of the passengers on the Number 7 bus at the time suffered a bleed to the brain.
Other passengers sustained serious wounds to their head, face or legs. As well as the driver and four passengers on the bus who were injured, the driver of the car involved and his female passenger also required hospital treatment.
An eighth person sustained minor injuries though it appears he was a bystander on the street and may have been hit by projectiles that resulted from the crash.
The collision happened at about 10.40pm on Friday at the junction of Northumberland Road and Haddington Road, in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, as the double decker bus was travelling towards the city centre, with eight passengers and the driver on board at the time.
The suspect’s car and the bus crashed on the crossroads, with the bus shunted towards a building on the junction and hitting the railings around it and a large tree on the roadside, destroying the front of the bus and a section of the roof.
The car turned over on the junction as a result of the impact and while the driver managed to get out of the vehicle unaided his female passenger was taken from the vehicle on a spinal board.
Gardaí on patrol in south Dublin were looking for the driver at the time he collided with the bus amid reports the driver had been acting suspiciously in his car.
When gardaí saw the man parked in the car in the Poolbeg area of the south inner city earlier on Friday night they approached the vehicle on foot and asked to see his driver’s licence.
The driver began recording the garda on his phone from inside the car before driving away. In the period after fleeing, the vehicle was spotted a number of times around the south inner city and Donnybrook but sped away from gardaí a number of times.
While the driver was being sought by gardaí at the time of the crash, it is understood gardaí were not directly pursuing the suspect in his car at the time of the collision.
However, because gardaí were looking for the driver and trying to bring his car to a stop around the time of the crash the incident has been referred by Garda Headquarters, Phoenix Park, Dublin, to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (Gsoc).
The Garda ombudsman is legally obliged to investigate any incidents that result in injury to any person at or around the time they have had dealings with Garda members, including being sought or pursued by gardaí.
