A garda on duty at a Border checkpoint was injured early yesterday morning by a motorist who trapped his arm in the vehicle's window and drove off. This is the second time in a week that a garda has been injured while enforcing the Government's measures to ensure foot-and-mouth disease does not reach the Republic.
The 26-year-old garda received shoulder and back injuries in the incident, which happened at 1.40 a.m. at the checkpoint on the Dundalk-Newry road near Dromad.
A Garda spokesman said the garda was speaking to the motorist, who was driving a van and had approached the checkpoint from the North. The driver then wound up the window, trapping the garda's arm, and drove a short distance. The driver escaped but the van was found abandoned in Newry some time later.
The garda was treated at Louth County Hospital but was not detained.
Gardai in Castleblayney say a woman garda injured in a similar incident at the weekend remains in hospital. The driver in that instance also crossed the Border into the North.