'Another Donegal' narrowly avoided
TULLAMORE Gardaí say 'another Donegal' was narrowly avoided in the town when a 23 year old drunk Corkman went on a dangerous driving spree in a stolen car on a busy Saturday night.
Garda met Michael Nolan, Lottamore Drive, Cork as he came towards them at high speed near Mucklagh in the early hours of July 17.
According to Gardai, only the expertise of the experienced and trained garda driver Sgt Paschal Hanrahan prevented a fatal incident as the garda car narrowly avoided colliding with the speeding car which was on their side of the road.
The car failed to stop when blue lights and sirens were activated and Nolan continued along the Tullamore by-pass towards the Portlaoise exit and then back into town.
He travelled at speed along High Street, where revellers were leaving nightclubs and a number of pedestrians were in the area, through O’Connor Square and then back in the direction of Mucklagh at speeds in the region of 200km/hour (125mph).
He then made a handbrake turn and once again, narrowly missed colliding with the garda car for a second time.
He then travelled down a side road towards Lynally where he crashed into a field but drove on until the vehicle stopped and he was arrested.
The garda car, carrying Tullamore’s traffic sergeant Paschal Hanrahan and Garda Mark Kenny had lights and sirens on for the 20 minute chase.
Nolan was arrested and has since been jailed for 11 months and disqualified from driving for 40 years.
At Tullamore District Court, Inspector Joe Prendergast said the officers and members of the public had “narrowly missed being seriously or fatally injured.”
He described it as a “very, very dangerous incident.”
At the court Judge John Coughlan heard that the vehicle was stolen and Mr Nolan had given a false name and address when he was eventually stopped.
Nolan’s mother described how her son had received no counselling after he left prison and had been off drink but got in with the wrong friends again.
He had been going to see his father who is in hospital recovering from a quadruple heart bypass. She said she knew her son had done wrong but asked for a chance for him, adding that his girlfriend is now pregnant.
He had a breath alcohol level of 49mg/100ml when tested at Tullamore Garda Station.
Judge Coughlan jailed him for eleven months for criminally damaging two gates which he crashed into in the field where the car came to a stop and disqualified him for forty years for having no insurance.
Judge Coughlan gave Mr Nolan the benefit of the Probation Act for stealing the car, giving a false name under the Road Traffic Act and for two counts of dangerous driving.
“You can’t hang a man twice,” he told garda.
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Tuesday 22 May 2012
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