{"id":650628,"date":"2026-08-22T11:29:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T11:29:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/650628\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T11:29:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T11:29:17","slug":"who-were-the-m9-crash-teenagers-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/650628\/","title":{"rendered":"Who were the M9 crash teenagers? \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kamil Pustkowski (17) from Limerick<\/a>, one of five teenagers killed in the M9 wrong-way crash<\/a> in Co Kildare<\/a> last weekend, was recently diagnosed with autism. <\/p>\n

He was described by a source as \u201cimpulsive and easily led\u201d.<\/p>\n

One person who had dealings with him said he appeared to be \u201cdoing better recently\u201d. But another insisted his offending was rapidly escalating.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was the kind of young lad who was only going to stop if he killed somebody or was killed himself,\u201d that person said.<\/p>\n

The same source said Pustkowski had rapidly attained a degree of notoriety among his peers because he so frequently posted content of himself in stolen cars. This included being pursued by garda\u00ed<\/a> and also engaging in wrong-way driving on motorways, involving near misses with oncoming traffic.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019d almost always show his face in the car,\u201d said one source of Pustkowski. He later shared that footage on the online video sharing platform TikTok<\/a>, where he had multiple accounts.<\/p>\n

Garda\u00ed were so concerned at the frequency and brazenness of his offending that his name was even cropping up in policing conversations about tackling joyriding nationally.<\/p>\n

Pustkowski was on bail at the time of his death last Sunday at about 3am near Moone, Co Kildare, having been charged with joyriding-related offences. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0M9 crash: What happened when? From attempted break-ins to the fatal collisionOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

A ban on leaving Limerick was one of the conditions imposed on him before his next scheduled court appearance in September.<\/p>\n

Despite being restricted to Limerick, he often travelled to places such as Carlow<\/a>, Kildare and Dublin \u2013 and as far as Monaghan \u2013 to \u201cgo on the tear in cars\u201d with others, as one source put it.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike them all, he knew [garda\u00ed] wouldn\u2019t follow him the wrong way down a motorway,\u201d said one garda. <\/p>\n

As a result, once he was being pursued by garda\u00ed, there followed a \u201cfrantic, crazy\u201d dash to what he saw as the safety of the nearest motorway.<\/p>\n

Despite the reputation Pustkowski had gained, especially since the start of this year, he was also the victim of violent bullying. <\/p>\n

A video, seen by The Irish Times, apparently recorded recently, shows him being kicked and punched by a group of similarly-aged boys.<\/p>\n

He tries to move away from them before collapsing on the ground. He is crying and pleading for the beating to stop. <\/p>\n

Due to his engagement with the criminal justice system, he was receiving support from Extern, an organisation specialising in \u201cpositive change through youth justice\u201d and was engaged in a full-time manufacturing course.<\/p>\n

The four others killed on the M9 at Moone, Co Kildare, in the black BMW last weekend were: Jack Kennedy (17) from Athy, Co Kildare; Jeremy O\u2019Brien (18) from Carlow; Joe \u201cJoey\u201d Carthy (15) from Athy; and Alex McCarthy (17) from Carlow.<\/p>\n

The BMW they were in was not registered to any of the teenagers or their families, but it was not stolen. It is believed to have been purchased<\/a> for just over \u20ac1,000 early last week.<\/p>\n

Pustkowski and Kennedy, from the Green Hills area of Athy, were regarded as the most dominant of the five young males killed last weekend.<\/p>\n

Kennedy is described as having had \u201can awful life\u201d and \u201cpushed from pillar to post in care\u201d. He attended Ardscoil na Tr\u00edon\u00f3ide in Athy and was in a residential placement<\/a> in the care of child and family care agency Tusla.<\/p>\n

In July, Kennedy was among a group of young males in a Ford Ranger that was driven over a motorcyclist in Graiguecullen, Co Carlow, after it had been stolen in Rathcoole, Co Dublin, hours earlier.<\/p>\n

The Ford Ranger, a large 4×4 utility vehicle costing up to \u20ac72,000 new and weighing about two tonnes, was driven on to the narrow roads of Graiguecullen just after 7.30am on Wednesday, July 8th, with a patrol car in pursuit.<\/p>\n

When the Ranger ran into traffic, the Garda car pulled alongside, only to be rammed from the side. <\/p>\n

The Ranger was then driven up on to the pavement, to undertake the line of traffic ahead, hitting the car in front. It knocked over the motorcyclist, driving over him and his motorbike.<\/p>\n

The vehicle sped away over traffic calming ramps, with footage of the incident going viral on social media. It was soon abandoned, with four suspects, including Kennedy, arrested on foot a short distance away.<\/p>\n

The motorcyclist suffered serious head injuries and, as a result, went blind for a time. Sources said he suffered a severe skull injury, causing a swollen brain and gravely endangering his life.<\/p>\n

Garda\u00ed were waiting the results of forensic tests on the Ranger before they could link Kennedy and the other suspects to the vehicle for the purposes of charging them with a crime.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Kathy Sheridan: Grown-ups had a role to play in dangerous actions by childrenOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Alex McCarthy (16) was also questioned by garda\u00ed about the incident last month in Carlow. It was strongly suspected he was one of the four males in the Ford Ranger.<\/p>\n

He was from a settled Traveller family. He attended St Joseph\u2019s National School in Carlow town where one teacher remembers him as a \u201cfine boy \u2013 no trouble at all\u201d. <\/p>\n

He went on to Tyndall College secondary school, but left before completing his Junior Cycle exams. He is understood to have loved horses and enjoyed sulky racing \u2013 a common pastime among some Travellers.<\/p>\n

Joe \u2018Joey\u2019 Carthy (15) was from a settled Traveller family in Athy. He lived in the Clonmullion estate, a working class area in the northeast of the town, with his siblings and parents.<\/p>\n

He was a member of St Michael\u2019s Boxing Club from the age of 10, where his father is a long-time volunteer. His mother is understood to have taken in foster children. <\/p>\n

\"TheThe funeral of Joey Carthy at St Michael the Archangel Church in Athy, Co Kildare, on Friday. Photograph: Colin Keegan\/Collins <\/p>\n

In a statement the Athy boxing club said: \u201cAll of us here at St Michael\u2019s were deeply saddened to learn of the death of Joe Carthy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to offer our sincere condolences to Joe\u2019s family and friends, and especially to his father Willie, a valued volunteer and member of the club.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeremy O\u2019Brien\u2019s death notice said he will be \u201csadly missed by his heartbroken mother Margaret, his loving brothers Jamie, Felix, Myles and Vincent\u201d and other family members.<\/p>\n

The response to the death of the five teenagers, whose car seriously injured three women and a child \u201ctravelling innocently\u201d, as Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly put it, has been unforgiving in some quarters.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018Frightening time\u2019 for family injured in M9 crash, friend saysOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Indeed, a large volume of public comment online became so vitriolic that when the death notice for Carthy was published on RIP.ie, it had to be removed<\/a> due to the nature of messages left in the section usually used for condolences.<\/p>\n

And when notices for O\u2019Brien and McCarthy were published, the condolences sections were disabled.<\/p>\n

The crash that claimed the lives of the five teenagers, and left four members of the Kinsella family with major injuries, has dominated the news agenda for the week.<\/p>\n

The funerals of Carthy, McCarthy and Pustkowski took place on Friday<\/a>. O\u2019Brien\u2019s will be held on Monday. Kennedy\u2019s funeral will take place in Athy on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\"MournersMourners at the funeral of Joey Carthy in Athy, Co Kildare, on Friday. Photograph: Colin Keegan\/Collins<\/p>\n

Social media platforms came under fire through the week for allegedly helping glorify risk-to-life joyriding because of their failure to ban those who share videos of the incidents.<\/p>\n

The first to raise this point was Det Mark Ferris, based in Blanchardstown, Dublin, and a member of the central executive of the Garda Representative Association, which represents more than 11,000 rank and file garda\u00ed in a force of 14,700.<\/p>\n

Many teenage joyriders were motivated to engage in their crimes, he said, because it gave them the opportunity to record what they were doing, for sharing on social media to gain kudos from their peers.<\/p>\n

\u201cSocial media companies facilitate this and must also be held to account,\u201d Ferris said. <\/p>\n

Kelly, the Garda Commissioner, also pointed to the role of social media platforms, saying some of the joyriding and wrong-way motorway driving was \u201cbeing done for social media likes\u201d regardless of the life-threatening risk.<\/p>\n

In a reflection of growing frustration and public anger at the extreme joyriding incidents \u2013 and though five young people had just lost their lives \u2013 the Garda Commissioner said the M9 collision underlined \u201chow irresponsible and dangerous driving on the wrong side of the motorway is\u201d.<\/p>\n

While clips shared on social media platforms depict \u201cthreat to life\u201d crimes, and garda\u00ed seek their removal from public circulation and preserved for investigation, this rarely happens.<\/p>\n

After the M9 crash, platforms such as Snapchat and TikTok said they had removed videos of the crash and related to it, and blocked some users.<\/p>\n

Despite mounting political pressure, TikTok turned down an invitation to the Oireachtas media committee, issued in the wake of a fatal incident. <\/p>\n

The committee\u2019s chairman, Labour TD Alan Kelly, described the refusal as \u201ca slap on the face\u201d.<\/p>\n

TikTok\u2019s head of public affairs Susan Moss claimed Kelly made it clear the hearing would centre on questions about last Sunday\u2019s crash. <\/p>\n

The collision and the sharing of related videos are now subject of investigations by the Garda and media regulator Coimisi\u00fan na Me\u00e1n.<\/p>\n

Moss added it would be not be \u201cappropriate to be the sole representative of the video-sharing industry\u201d at the committee.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0M9 crash exposes limits of rules on social media giantsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Garda sources said the joyriders\u2019 appetite for capturing footage of their illegal driving was encouraging them in their crimes; one garda said he believed this was a motivating factor to a \u201ccolossal\u201d extent.<\/p>\n

Garda\u00ed say joyriding has worsened due to the surge in the number of used Japanese cars being imported into the Republic since Brexit made buying used cars from Britain much less attractive.<\/p>\n

Japanese used imports are usually not fitted with immobiliser devices, unlike cars made for the European market. Immobilisers are an antitheft device, compulsory for new vehicles in Europe, that prevent cars being hot-wired, or started without the key.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore Covid we had less than 3,000 Japanese cars [imported into the Republic] in a year and now we\u2019ve more than 30,000 a year,\u201d said one source. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Revenue Commissioners could increase the VRT [vehicle registration tax] on Japanese imports and put a real dent in this. But you need the co-operation of the social media companies too, and not just after the event.\u201d<\/p>\n

Warnings in the wake of the M9 crash also came from the Government. Minister for Justice Jim O\u2019Callaghan warned young drivers \u201cyou\u2019ll end up in jail, or you\u2019ll end up in a grave\u201d if they didn\u2019t stop.<\/p>\n

In reality, few young gang members driving recklessly on roads, often in stolen cars, are being killed.<\/p>\n

Even when pursued by garda\u00ed \u2013 though not the wrong way down motorways \u2013 they are escaping. Those who are caught \u2013 and later convicted \u2013 aren\u2019t always sanctioned with a period in detention. <\/p>\n

And, even if they are, Ireland\u2019s youth prison \u2013 Oberstown Children Detention Campus in north Co Dublin \u2013 faces capacity constraints that mean it is, at times, unable to accept new committals.<\/p>\n

Last Christmas, a group of joyriders took a car to Oberstown, posing outside for photographs, which they shared on social media to taunt garda\u00ed.<\/p>\n

Much was made this week, including by O\u2019Callaghan, of plans to finally start training garda\u00ed in vehicle pursuits. Garda driving instructors are already being trained by personnel from Devon and Cornwall Police in Britain, which has a pursuit training centre of excellence.<\/p>\n

Once the Garda\u2019s instructors are accredited, they will roll out the pursuit training by year end, in a first for Irish policing.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Garda\u00ed start specialist training in UK for high-risk vehicle pursuitsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

But Garda members in patrol cars will still be required to offer a live running commentary on pursuits, as they unfold, to their commanders at control and command centres.<\/p>\n

When conditions are deemed by managers as too dangerous to continue a pursuit, they will be instructed to withdraw and let the joyriders speed off, in the hope they can be caught somewhere else.<\/p>\n

So, will the new pursuit training change things on the roads? Will it help to bring wrong-way motorway driving to an end?<\/p>\n

\u201cGarda\u00ed won\u2019t be chasing people the wrong way down motorways, ever,\u201d said one source, pointing out police in Britain also don\u2019t engage in such chases as they were far too high risk.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve never done wrong-way motorway pursuits and we never will do it, and I think everybody knows that. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe guys in the [stolen] cars definitely know it. And that\u2019s why they\u2019re rallying to the motorways when they see us. This isn\u2019t going away any time soon.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kamil Pustkowski (17) from Limerick, one of five teenagers killed in the M9 wrong-way crash in Co Kildare…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":650629,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[40],"tags":[956,9,10,1845,18,13,14,6,19,17,3625,11,12,1844,15,16,5,11697,1150,7,8],"class_list":["post-650628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-an-garda-siochana","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-carlow","tag-eire","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-headlines","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-kildare","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-limerick","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-news","tag-road-safety","tag-tiktok","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117138934160625686","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=650628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650628\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/650629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=650628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=650628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=650628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}