High-speed chase leaves garda fighting for life

A YOUNG garda was fighting for his life last night and another officer was hospitalised after a high-speed chase ended in a head-on collision with a suspected drunk driver.

Gary McLoughlin, 24, from Ballinamore, Co Leitrim, and Bernard McLoughlin, 23, from Gurteen, Co Sligo, were rushed to hospital after the crash in the early hours of yesterday morning at Lisfannon, near Burt, Co Donegal. The incident followed three deaths on the country’s roads on Saturday, in Dublin, Galway and Monaghan.

Sources close to the Donegal investigation confirmed that just after 1am two plainclothes officers identified a Northern Ireland-registered red Opel Astra speed away from a filling station in Buncrana and gave chase in their unmarked patrol car.