Gardaí shocked by death plunge

Gardaí  are understood to have been left shocked at the scene of last Wednesday evening’s death leap by a city taxi driver from O’Brien’s Bridge.

The Galway City Tribune has learned that the Gardaí were in the process of carrying out a routine document check on Dave Johnson (43), when he voluntarily left his vehicle which had been parked at the rank near the bridge.

While there might have been the possibility of the man’s vehicle being seized, the Gardai were not making any attempt to arrest him – it is understood that he wasn’t in any way belligerent towards them either.

Less than a minute later, the Gardaí spotted the man making his way onto the wall of the bridge, and seconds later they watched in horror as he jumped off and into the swollen waters of the Corrib.

 The Galway Lifeboat crew were on the scene within minutes and were joined by Gardai, Fire Brigade members and the Coast Guard helicopter in a search of the area.

About an hour later, a member of Galway Fire Brigade involved in the search from the shore, spotted the body of a man washed up close to the entrance to the Lough Atalia waterway.

The man was later identified locally as Dave Johnson (43), a Scottish native, who had lived in Galway for some years.  The taxi driver was well known in the past for his Mercedes Vito vehicle that he had fitted out with disco lights and karaoke screens.

A number of his customers who contacted the Galway City Tribune described him as ‘very obliging’ with his ‘disco taxi’ a big hit with parents and children, as well as partygoers.

 “The children used to love the lights, screens and music in the taxi. What happened is a big shock to a lot of people,” one mother  said.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.