A 78-year-old pensioner whose car “rolled into” a patrol car which was trying to stop him from driving off has been fined and disqualified.
Maus McCarry appeared at Falcarragh District Court charged with drunk driving and dangerous driving.
Garda Inspector Seamus McGonigle told the court that on September 29th, 2018 at 12.05am Gardai saw a black Peugeot car stopped in the centre of the M56 at Creeslough.
When they approached it the car took off in the direction of Dunfanaghy and was crossing the white lines on the road.
Gardai from Falcarragh tried to stop the car and it eventually came to a halt at Cornagreggan but rolled into the patrol car causing slight damage.
Instead of arresting McCarry Gardai feared for his health and took him to Letterkenny University Hospital after it appeared he took a blackout.
A blood sample taken later showed a reading of 97 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.
Solicitor Patsy Gallagher said his client had been in a bar earlier and had consumed alcohol.
He said Gardai had realised the danger of the situation and kindly took McCarry to the hospital instead of arresting him.
He said his client was at home at the insistence of his family.
Judge Paul Kelly fined McCarry €250 for drunk driving and disqualified him from driving for a year and struck out the charge of dangerous driving.