A Garda motorcyclist who was injured after he was allegedly deliberately rammed by an uninsured driver was awarded £50,000 compensation at the High Court yesterday.
Garda David Murphy, of MacCurtain Street Garda station, Cork, said he was forced into oncoming traffic and sent flying through the air following the incident at Lower Glanmire Road on March 14th, 1994.
He slid along the road for 30 metres, and his motorcycle, which collided with an oncoming jeep, was a complete write-off, Garda Murphy said in an affidavit.
Afterwards, he suffered post traumatic stress disorder and now, five years later, he still had not completely recovered from the incident in which he sustained injuries to his face, neck, back, shoulder, hand and knees.
His superiors had removed him from motorcycle duty when he suffered a panic attack during a flashback of the ramming incident while undergoing an advanced motorcycle course at the Garda College in Templemore, Co Tipperary. At the time, he had been under instruction on public roads at speeds reaching 100 m.p.h.
Before the ramming, Garda Murphy said, he had competed in more than 30 marathons in places such as Boston, New York and London, and had run between 70 to 100 miles a week for training and general fitness. Now he took pain-killers intermittently to control the severity of the pain in his knees. He no longer ran competitively.
Mr Justice Kearns awarded Garda Murphy £50,000 under the Garda Compensation Act.
Another garda who suffered shoulder and neck injuries when knocked to the ground by a man he was arresting following a disturbance in a restaurant in Ballinasloe, Co Galway, on January 17th, 1994, was also awarded compensation of £50,000.
Garda Tom Horkan, of Ballinasloe Garda station, said he underwent surgery for a neck injury in 1997 and was out of work for six weeks.