Dubliner convicted of dangerous cycling asked gardai: "Are you arresting me for breaking a f**king red light?"
A Dublin man has been fined €400 for dangerous cycling after he broke a red light and fled when gardai chased him in a patrol car.
Thomas Redmond (29) of Donore Terrace in Dublin 8 was finally caught by the gardai and said to them: "Are you arresting me for breaking a fucking red light?"
Judge Cormac Dunne at Dublin District Court imposed the fine after he was told Redmond broke the light on a four lane dual carriageway and that a vehicle in the area had to take evasive action and brake hard to avoid hitting him.
The incident occurred on July 29th, with Garda Richard Brennan telling the court he spotted Redmond on his bike when he was patrolling on Clanbrassil St Lower in Dublin’s south inner city.
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He told Judge Dunne the accused was cycling in front of his patrol car at 2.50pm when he broke a set of red lights and cycled across four lanes of a dual carriageway on the junction with Malpas St.
The court heard there was heavy traffic in the area at the time including cars and cyclists, with a number of pedestrians also at the scene.
Garda Brennan said when Redmond broke the lights the Garda car followed him with its blue lights flashing and its siren on.
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However, while Redmond looked back at the car on his bike, he then continued at speed down a laneway, failed to stop at a stop sign and mounted the pavement passing a school.
He then went through a set of steel barriers, and with the Garda car unable to follow he escaped. However, he was later apprehended.
He pleaded not guilty to a charge of dangerous cycling but on hearing the Garda evidence Judge Dunne convicted him of the charge and fined €400.
"On the face of it a bicycle is innocent,” Judge Dunne told Redmond. “But it can take lives, and bicycles have done.”
While gardai had warned in recent weeks of a clampdown on those breaking red lights, and singling out cyclists as being liable for fines of up to €700, the conviction of Redmond is not believed to be linked to that clampdown.
The offence the Dubliner was convicted of pre-dates the announcement only last month of the special Garda operation that would seek to make the streets safer around the city.
Senior officers said while they would be staging events where road safety kit was distributed free of charge to cyclists, riders breaking red lights should expect to be subjected to greater enforcement of the road traffic laws.
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