Pepper spray may have saved man’s life

GARDAÍ may have been able to incapacitate a young man who stabbed an officer before killing himself had they used pepper spray, the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) conference heard yesterday.

Officers said that if they had pepper spray available to them — which most European and American forces have — it could have prevented the death of Trevor Clancy.

The 26-year-old stabbed Sergeant John Liston in Fermoy, Co Cork, after gardaí were called to an incident outside a nightclub in the town on New Year’s Eve.