Two men have been arrested following what gardaí said was an incident of endangerment and the theft of a car in Gorey, Co Wexford.
The car was stolen from a residential premises late yesterday evening.
It was located with two men inside in an estate in the early hours of this morning.
When gardaí approached the car on foot, the driver of the stolen car drove away.
However, a garda attempted to stop the car and was carried by it before falling.
The garda received shoulder and arm injuries in the incident and was taken to hospital for treatment.
Gardaí say that the stolen car and the suspects were located a short time later.
The men, aged in their 20s and late teens, were arrested and are being held at Gorey Garda Station.
The President of the Garda Representative Association has said that the garda who was injured has been released from hospital but received "serious" injuries, adding that he was "very concerned" at the "relentless" number of these type of incidents.
"Two members of a roads policing patrol responded to a call which was a report of a vehicle being taken without the consent of the owner," Brendan O'Connor told RTÉ’s Drivetime programme.
"In the search for this stolen vehicle, I believe they came upon it. It was stationery when they came upon it.
"There was some interaction between my colleague and one of the occupants of the car and the car took off.
"He [the garda] was dragged along and injured quite seriously.
"He was detained overnight and has been released into the care of his family," Mr O'Connor said, adding that there have been a number of similar recent incidents.
"It is very traumatic and can have a huge impact on their families," he said.
"Unfortunately, these sort of incidents are happening with alarming regularity."
