Cork driver took off while garda was partially in vehicle in Dublin

A driver who took off in a stolen van while a garda was partially in the vehicle trying to breathalyse him has been jailed.

Corkman Eoin O’Sullivan, aged 28, had been stopped by Garda Blaine Feely on the M50 at Santry on suspicion of dangerous driving on November 24, 2014.

O’Sullivan, of Bride Valley View, Fair Hill, was in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on signed pleas of guilty to endangerment and unlawful use of a stolen vehicle.

After stopping O’Sullivan, the garda produced a breathalyser after getting a strong smell of alcohol off O’Sullivan, who had been disqualified from driving five times.

O’Sullivan took off while Garda Feely had one foot in the footwell of the passenger side. The garda had to jump out to avoid being injured.

O’Sullivan drove for 50m before he performed a U-turn and travelled on the wrong side of the M50. He continued onto the M1, travelling the wrong way up the exit ramp, before he collided with another vehicle at the Oscar Traynor Rd Roundabout.

Garda O’Sullivan told Diarmuid Collins BL, prosecuting, he traced the van to a burglary in Louth. The van had been taken that afternoon and O’Sullivan had been seen on CCTV footage in the area at the time.

Judge Martin Nolan sentenced O’Sullivan to two and half years consecutive to a term he is currently serving and which expires in 2018.