Drunk man fell under van after refusing hospital treatment

A man who died when he fell under a newspaper delivery van on Belfast’s Westlink in the middle of the night had just discharged himself from hospital before being treated for injuries suffered in another drunken fall, an inquest heard today.

Unemployed chef Anthony Maguire, 35, was nearly five times over the drink-driving limit when he died several hours after a night out in October 2006.

He had downed at least five pints and seven or eight shots in one pub – and had clearly been drinking beforehand – close friend Daniel Guggenheim told the Belfast inquest.

He was later seen falling in North Street and was taken to hospital in an ambulance called by a member of the public who saw him hit his head on the curb.

“He appeared drunk, very drunk,” said Thomas Slavin who went to his aid.

He said when he tried to help Mr Maguire get up he shouted: “Don’t touch me I have HIV.”

Mr Maguire is believed to have been the same person seen shortly before staggering around nearby streets, falling over and bouncing off parked cars.

Bouncers from the Kremlin and Union bars helped the man, the former binding a head wound he suffered in a fall, but he refused the offer of an ambulance.

However after falling in North Street Mr Maguire was taken by ambulance to the Accident and Emergency department of the City Hospital – arriving at 11.48pm.

He was checked over and told he would need staples in his wound but said he wasn’t waiting.

Sister Gillian Murray told the inquest: “He said he did not want to wait and wanted to go home. He signed a Discharge Against Advice form and left at 12.15am. I told him to go to his GP in the morning.”

She said while Mr Maguire was “very drunk” his vital signs had been normal and he had been able to make calls on his mobile phone.

She insisted he would not have been allowed to discharge himself had he seemed confused.

He was taken to reception to organise a taxi but a Fone-a-Cab driver refused to take him home because of the state he was in.

Aine Straney said: “He was unsteady and fell against the wall, he looked drunk and his shirt was covered in blood – he was still bleeding.”

Less than 90 minutes later Mr Maguire died on the Westlink.

He is believed to have fallen just as a newspaper delivery van was passing him and to have hit his head against the front passenger side wheel.

Forensic scientist George Johnston, who examined the van and the scene, told the inquest: “The front of the van did not hit him and I am quite satisfied the van didn’t drive over him.

“I concluded Mr Maguire fell into the side of the van – it is the only interpretation I can put on it.”

Alan Burns, who had been in the passenger seat of the van, said they were going along the Westlink, when he suddenly saw in the dark “a figure standing on a traffic cone swaying. He was wobbling and looked unsteady.”

He said as the van passed he and the driver heard a noise , stopped to investigate and found a man lying at the side of the road. “It seems he fell and hit the side of the van.”

He called the police and ambulance service, but Mr Maguire was declared dead at the scene.

PSNI Sergeant Raymond Pollin told the inquest Mr Maguire was killed at a spot where roadworks were being carried out, the street lights were not on and Mr Maguire could have been “confused” into thinking the footpath was blocked.

“In the dark it looked at if there was no way through, but in daylight it was clear it was possible to walk along the footpath without going onto the road.”

He said the North's Public Prosecution Service directed there should be no prosecution of the van driver – and police concluded the Department of Regional Development had fully met their obligations about putting signs on the roadworks.

Coroner Brian Sherrard recorded that Mr Maguire died from multiple injuries including a fractured skull and 15 broken ribs.

He described the accident as “a terrible tragedy” while Mr Maguire seemed likely to be trying to get home and that death would have been rapid.

Mr Maguire had been “very heavily intoxicated” with an alcohol reading of 373 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood – nearly five times the drink drive limit of 80 – said the coroner.