Gardaí ‘acted appropriately’ prior to fatal M9 crash, Fiosrú says

Gardaí “acted appropriately” when they followed a vehicle before it crashed while travelling in the wrong direction on the M9 motorway in Co Kildare, Garda watchdog Fiosrú has said.Five teenagers – Kamil Pustkowski (17) from Limerick; Jack Kennedy (17), from Athy, Co Kildare; Jeremy O’Brien (18) from Carlow; Joe “Joey” Carthy (15) from Athy, and Alex McCarthy (17) from Carlow – died in the collision on August 16th last. Three women and a child who were in a car that the BMW the teenagers were travelling in hit head on were seriously injured. “Gardaí who followed a vehicle before its involvement in a fatal head on collision on the M9 motorway in Co Kildare acted in accordance with the law as well as relevant Garda policies and procedures,” Fiosrú said. READ MORE“Gardaí had been following the car on the N78 in Athy for a short period before it joining the M9 motorway against the direction of traffic, where it later collided with an oncoming vehicle.”Fiosrú said it examined evidence “related to the actions and decisions of gardaí during their interactions with the car”, including the nature and extent of contact before the crash. “During the course of Fiosrú’s investigation, investigators obtained and reviewed CCTV and radio transmissions and received a briefing from the Forensic Collision Investigator,” it said.“Fiosrú established that on the day of the fatal collision, gardaí had pursued a BMW car. Permission to continue the pursuit was granted by the Garda Control Room. After the BMW entered the M9 dual carriageway, the Garda vehicle terminated its pursuit and the Control Room confirmed that the pursuit should not continue. “Other garda units attempted to place a stopping device at an appropriate location, however the BMW undertook a number of U-turns, before fatally colliding with an oncoming car.” Fiosrú became involved in the case following a referral by An Garda Síochána, which must alert the agency to any incident where serious injury or death occurs after an interaction with the force. It said the M9 incident was the sixth referral it had received since 2021 relating to the Garda and “vehicles being driven the wrong way on motorways and national roads”.“Fiosrú’s investigation was independent of gardaí and aimed to understand events leading up to the collision,” said Police Ombudsman Emily Logan. “It found that gardaí acted appropriately, within the law, and in line with relevant policies and procedures as determined by the Garda Commissioner. “Every death on our roads brings untold grief to families and communities. My thoughts are with family and friends and all those affected by this devastating incident, including the gardaí who attended the scene.”