Man hit by car on Dublin footpath died due to traumatic brain injury, inquest hears

A 24-year-old man struck by a car while walking on a footpath in Dublin died due to traumatic brain injury, an inquest has heard.

Benjamin Renard, a LinkedIn account manager from France, died at Beaumont Hospital on September 5th last.

Mr Renard, who was living nearby in Portobello, was seriously injured when the driver of a car lost control on Adelaide Road on August 22nd last. He was walking on the footpath with a group of friends when the car mounted the pavement and struck pedestrians at around 6.15pm.

He was rushed to St James’s Hospital and later transferred to Beaumont Hospital where he was treated in the intensive care unit. Family members travelled from France as efforts were made to save his life but he died two weeks later.

An inquest into his death which opened at Dublin Coroner’s Court heard that Mr Renard was formally identified by his mother following his death.

A postmortem conducted by Dr Francesca Brett gave the cause of death as cerebral trauma due to a road traffic collision.

Det Insp Paul Costello of Pearse Street Garda station applied to the coroner for a six month adjournment of the inquest as investigations into the incident are ongoing. No family were present in court but a liaison officer is keeping relatives informed, the court heard.

Mr Renard had studied at Dublin City University until 2014 when he was awarded a BA in global business, marketing and sales. He had previously earned a BSc degree in France.

The impact of the crash near the junction of Adelaide Street and Harcourt Road resulted in the silver convertible car flipping onto its side. The driver and four pedestrians were taken to hospital afterwards.

Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane adjourned the inquest for further mention until June 28th next.