Firefighters and ambulance crews struggled to free injured people from a serious road accident in Co Antrim at the weekend as a crowd of about 30 people attacked RUC officers at the scene.
Three people died in the crash, and firefighters trying to cut the injured free of the wreckage were distracted by the crowd's assaults on RUC officers at Templepatrick early yesterday morning.
The crash happened near Templepatrick between the Dunadry Inn and the Twelfth Milestone roundabout at 1.40 a.m. The three people who died were in a Rover involved in a collision with a Toyota MR2.
An RUC spokeswoman said officers in a marked vehicle had seen the MR2 facing the wrong direction on the Twelfth Milestone roundabout shortly before the accident. The MR2 turned and headed towards Antrim. As the police followed, at one stage using their siren, they came upon the crash scene.
Firefighters and ambulance staff were called to the crash to cut the dead and injured from their vehicles. A crowd of about 30 gathered and attacked RUC officers securing the scene, injuring two of them.
It is believed some in the crowd had come from two pubs nearby. The fire service officer at the scene, Station Officer Aidan Magennis, said his men's work had been hindered by the violence.
"It was made very difficult by those in the background attacking police," he said.
"We were trying to focus on releasing the casualties, but it was very distracting to have this going on in the background."
The dead were named as the driver of the Rover, Mr Clements Parkinson (34), of Ballyduff, Co Antrim; Ms Agnes Wilson (31) and her brother, Mr Alan Walker (33), both from Newtownabbey, Co Antrim, who were passengers in the car; as was another 25-yearold man, who was seriously injured.
He was being treated yesterday in Antrim Area Hospital along with a 20-year-old woman passenger from the MR2, the 26-year-old driver of which was being treated in the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast.
The RUC spokeswoman said it was policy to inform the Ombudsman about incidents where there might be complaints, but stressed the force did not believe its officers had acted improperly in any way.
Mr Gerald Allaway (56), from Comber, Co Down, died after being struck by a motorcycle at the Dundrod racing circuit in Co Antrim.
A rider fell off at a chicane during the fourth race at the Ulster Grand Prix and rolled to safety, but his bike hurtled on at 60 m.p.h., somersaulted over a safety barrier and struck Mr Allaway, who died while being taken to hospital.
The clerk of the course, Mr Billy Nutt, described the crash as "a freak accident".
"Obviously this incident will be fully investigated," he said, adding that the chicane had been put in to slow riders down.
"Certainly it did that, but in the last lap there is always a problem when the guys are going out for a win," he said.