TWO gardai had to swim to safety after their patrol car plunged into the Royal Canal near Kilcock, Co Kildare while chasing shop raiders early yesterday morning. The two officers, a woman and a man were uninjured.
The 30-mile, high speed chase by gardai across two counties began in Kells, Co Meath when three men in a Vauxhall Cavalier car registered in Co Louth tried to break into a newsagent's shop shortly before 3 a.m. They drove off when the alarm went off and tried to ram the front door of another shop.
The local Garda squad car arrived and attempted to block the car in behind the petrol pumps. However, the raiders drove straight at one pump which gave way, due to a built-in safety device. The Garda car was rammed as they escaped.
As gardai gave chase, one of the raiders shone a bright light out of the window of the speeding car into the patrol car and gardai lost sight of the car near Athboy.
A short time later the car was spotted by gardai in Trim, who pursued it. At around 4.30 a.m. the Trim patrol car left the road on a sharp bend at Ferran's Lock near Kilcock and plunged into the canal. Garda Carmel Green and Garda Philip O'Callaghan were uninjured but had to swim from the submerged car.
The raiders were last seen heading towards the main Dublin-Galway road.
