The family of a former INLA man crushed to death when run over by a British Army personnel carrier during rioting in Derry almost twelve years ago yesterday thanked the police officer who gave him medical assistance.
On the fifth day of the inquest into the death of Dermot McShane (36), who died on July 13, 1996, at Altnagelvin Hospital, a police officer told the jury how he administered first aid to the fatally injured man as stones, bottles and petrol bombs rai
ned down on police lines at Little James Street on the edge of the Bogside area of the city.
Sergeant Robin Young, who was then based at Strand Road RUC station, said he was a liaison officer attached to a mobile support unit from Lisnaskea in Co. Fermanagh. He said police lines at Little James Street were being attacked on three fronts during what he described as "certainly the worst rioting I had ever seen."
On the weekend of Mr. McShane's death, an estimated 1,200 petrol bombs were thrown at police and soldiers who, in turn, fired a reported 946 baton rounds as trouble flared in Derry following loyalist violence at Drumcree and Portadown.
Sgt. Young said that, on the night Mr. McShane was killed, the police were wrongfooted by the rioters. The police tactics for the night were to protect properties in the city centre and he said there was no expectation of the night of violence which occurred. The police witness said he and other police and army officers ordered that an eleven ton Saxon armoured personnel carrier should be used to drive a commercial skip, being used as cover by rioters, back down Little James Street.
Instead, the driver of the vehicle crashed into and ran over a ten foot high wooden hoarding behind which Mr. McShane was hiding and which was being used as a shield by rioters. After the collision, he and other officers ran into Little James Street towards the rioters. There he saw Mr. McShane lying on the ground.
"I removed my protective helmet and bent over him," he told the inquest. "I put my right ear to his mouth. I could hear his breathing and also smelt alcohol. He had a gaping wound to his right leg which I could see through his torn jeans. Even though the wound was not bleeding profusely, I called for a field dressing. Someone handed me one. I applied the dressing to the wound close to the man's right buttock. I checked for further injuries and ensured he was still breathing. I could find no deformity of his rib cage. The man occasionally muttered, 'I was hit by a jeep'.
"I carried out a further examination with the aid of a pen torch. There was no fluid oozing from his ears, his pupil reaction was slow. I took his pulse which was sixty beats per minute and bounding. I turned his head to the left to check his airway was clear. I told him to spit if he was sick again. I then checked his spine but could find no injury. I then asked for a coat to cover him and a member of the public provided me with one which I put over his chest," he added.
Barrister David Heraghty said that, on behalf of the brothers and sister of Mr. McShane: "I would like...
