Senior garda to head death-crash probe

A senior garda has been appointed to head up an internal probe into a car crash death during a police operation.

The investigation centres on a 30-year-old man killed at 11.35pm on Sunday night as gardaí tried to stop the vehicle in which he was travelling.

The front seat passenger in the Northern Ireland-registered car died from injuries he suffered when the vehicle crashed on a sharp bend at Derreenacullig, near Kilgarvan, in Co Kerry.

Garda superintendent Tom Duggan, from Kanturk in Co Cork, has been brought in to hold an inquiry into the death because of local garda involvement.

The Garda Press Office would not confirm or deny if officers were chasing the vehicle at the time of the fatal crash.

A 45-year-old man was arrested at 5.40am under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act and taken to Tralee Garda Station for questioning.

The man, with an address at Ballyduff in north Kerry, was tested for alcohol at Tralee General Hospital and arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving causing death.

Two other people in the car were also injured and taken to hospital. One of them, a woman, was earlier described as seriously ill but was said to be stable at Cork University Hospital tonight.

Gardaí said they were in the area at the time investigating reports of the car driving dangerously and were attempting to bring it to a stop.