Teen held as spate of road incidents probed

A TEENAGER was arrested by Askeaton gardaí yesterday who are investigating a series of road incidents which resulted in a crash involving a delivery lorry.

The 18-year-old is being held at Askeaton Garda Station under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act and can be held for 24 hours. The lorry was stolen at a petrol station in Kildimo on Wednesday of last week at about 7am and overturned a short time later. The crash followed incidents involving two other vehicles. The driver of the crashed lorry was taken to the Mid-Western Regional Hospital and was allowed home in recent days.

As a result of the crash, the N69 was closed for several hours.

The series of incidents began at around 6am when a VW van stolen in the Askeaton area was crashed into a ditch at Glenameade, Pallaskenry. A driver of a 4x4 who went to the assistance of the driver, was assaulted and the driver of the crashed van took off in the 4x4.

Gardaí believe the man who drove off in the 4x4 had difficulty driving the automatic vehicle and abandoned it a short distance away.

He then made his way to Kildimo village, where at about 6.40am he took an ice-cream delivery truck which was parked in the forecourt of a local service station. The ice-cream truck was driven off in the direction of Askeaton, but it overturned about a half a mile away at Bolane’s bend.

A youth, aged 18, discovered at the scene of the crash with serious injuries, was taken to the Mid-Western Regional Hospital. As the road was being cleared, gardaí closed the main Foynes road for a number of hours, leading to a major disruption of traffic.