A FATHER OF one drowned after getting “snagged on an automobile that had been submerged in the River Shannon, gardaí told an inquest into the man’s death the day before this.
Christopher ‘Kippy’ Leo, elderly forty-four, from Cliona Park, Moyross, had long gone for a swim at Brown’s Quay, Limerick, while he was stuck in the automobile, Limerick Coroner’s Court heard. “It is in an area recognized for joyriding. The vehicle may be pushed in or pushed in,” Garda Alan Dowling, Mayorstone Park garda station, informed the inquest. Eric Woodland from Dalglish Park, Moyross, advised the hearing that he and Christopher Leo, who were buddies, had gone for a walk on 30 June 2018 and stopped for relaxation near the riverbank.
“We had been sitting downplaying the sun. It turned into a warm, roasting day. Ann Harvey and her daughters have been paddling in the river, and Christopher said to me he was going to ‘display off for the children,” Woodland advised gardai. “He went in, and he went down abruptly. He turned into long gone below for approximately a minute and a 1/2. I got worried. I asked Ann to ring the rescue crowd.” Woodland stated Christopher Leo had one or two drinks that day. However, he wasn’t under the influence of alcohol”.
Limerick City and County Fire and Rescue Service were dispatched to the scene and fast placed the person’s body underwater. “The Fire Service rescue [boat] placed him snagged underwater in a car,” Garda Dowling said. Ann Harvey from Cosgrave Park, Moyross, stated in a deposition, studied by Garda Inspector Dermot O’Connor of Henry Street Garda Station, that Leo turned into, to begin with, “shooting up and down” in the water. She said she noted he changed into “simplest messing” when he didn’t resurface. She rang the emergency services, and efforts to resuscitate Christopher Leo failed.
John Leo instructed the inquest that he recognized his brother’s frame later at University Hospital Limerick (UHL). Dr. Gabor Laskai, a pathologist at UHL, stated dying turned into “asphyxiation because of drowning.” He stated that toxicology tests observed “low degrees” of Xanax and alcohol in Christopher Leo’s machine. He mentioned that the published more exams found a “concurrent use of alcohol, an antidepressant, an anti-epileptic, and antihistamine medicines” which combined could have ended in “a multiplied threat of accident” as well as a likely “lack of coordination.” Limerick Coroner Dr. John McNamara remarked: “It strikes me as very uncommon that there has been a car in (the river). However, that’s what seems to have snagged Christopher below the water.” Recording a verdict of “misadventure,” Dr. McNamara cited that blended low degrees of alcohol and drugs may additionally have affected Mr. Leo’s “coordination and capacity to react.”
