The High Court has found the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform liable for a collision involving a Garda armed support vehicle and a motorist near the Walkinstown Roundabout in Dublin in September 2018. It awarded the motorist €9,000 in general damages and €1,070 in agreed special damages, but left the terms of the final order for a further hearing.
Mr Justice Tony O’Connor delivered judgment electronically on 1 May 2024 after hearing the case de novo on appeal from a Dublin Circuit Court judgment and order made on 16 October 2023. The judgment does not state the terms of the Circuit Court’s decision.
The collision happened as the plaintiff approached the roundabout on Greenhills Road. A marked Audi Q7 from the Garda Armed Support Unit came from behind and moved across white lines towards the right lane to stop the plaintiff’s car. The plaintiff said he did not see its flashing lights before the manoeuvre and that his car struck the Audi’s left rear wheel. The Garda driver said the plaintiff turned into the vehicle. The High Court said it made little difference whether the plaintiff had altered course slightly to avoid the Audi’s sudden appearance.
The Gardaí had been responding to a report of an aggravated burglary and a request to stop two suspected vehicles. The plaintiff’s car and another vehicle had not been involved in the burglary. The plaintiff was taking his wife and two teenage children home from a birthday outing.
The court found the plaintiff had reacted reasonably quickly and was not reckless or negligent as he approached the roundabout. It accepted that he could reasonably have failed to notice the flashing lights, given how briefly the Audi had been behind him and its position to his right rear. It also found no contributory negligence, noting that the Audi was probably in the plaintiff’s blind spot.
The court said the Gardaí had not satisfactorily explained why the plaintiff had to be stopped before the roundabout rather than allowed to proceed through it. Applying Garda Code guidance that stopping a vehicle should be a last resort and that the right place and moment should be chosen, the court found the defendant liable for the collision.
On injury, the court determined that the low-impact collision caused a soft-tissue injury that aggravated the plaintiff’s pre-existing knee condition. It was not satisfied that his ongoing complaints were attributable to the collision. The €9,000 general-damages award was limited to the injury established to date; agreed special damages were €1,070. The court proposed hearing the parties on the final-order terms at 10.30am on 15 May 2024.