Ricardis Loveikis Death Update Upon Investigation, Man Found Dead Day After Traffic Collision in Burnfoot
Six years ago, a man was discovered dead at his Buncrana home. He had suffered from cardiac arrest due to binge drinking and left untreated injuries from a car accident the day before.
Ricardis Loveikis, a single father, was discovered unconscious and suffering from inexplicable injuries to his body at his Oakfield Close residence just after 6 o’clock on Sunday, March 18, 2018.
A short while later, the 47-year-old Lithuanian resident of Inishowen—who had worked at E&I Engineering in Burnfoot for more than ten years—was declared deceased.
Following an inquest held at Buncrana Courthouse, Coroner Dr. Denis McCauley declared that Mr. Loveikis’ death was the result of an accident. There was no sign of improper behavior.
Following a post-mortem examination, Deputy State Pathologist Dr. Linda Mulligan concluded that the deceased’s injuries—which included a severely fractured arm and a dislocated shoulder—were not consistent with an assault. She also discovered that at the moment of his death, he was extremely drunk.
The incident was looked into by Gardai, who also ruled out any criminal involvement in the death.
They discovered that on the evening of March 17, 2018, Mr. Loveikis was probably involved in a minor traffic collision at Slab Road, Burnfoot. He did not seek medical attention for his wounds, though, and about eighteen hours later, after a period of heavy drinking, he passed away at home from sudden cardiac failure.
It was a “chaotic and confusing situation,” according to Coroner McCauley, but the guards handled it professionally and conducted an investigation. He is confident that there was no suspicious death.
“The circumstances surrounding this gentleman’s death initially confused and therefore worried the Garda members,” Dr. McCauley stated.
“But the guards don’t believe it was a criminal act, and the trauma wasn’t suggestive of an assault.”
“The coroner ruled that acute trauma and alcohol intoxication combined with pre-existing alcohol-induced cardiomyopathy caused a cardiac arrhythmia that resulted in death.”
Sergeant Graham Morgan described how he had been driving the Buncrana patrol car on Sunday, March 18, 2018, accompanied by Garda Eoghan Reid, when an emergency call came in.
“At 6.20pm we received a call that a male had collapsed at his house at 41 Oakfield Close, Buncrana, and that he had suffered a heart-attack.”
They arrived at the site ten minutes later and spotted a gentleman standing outside the door and just inside, in a small utility room, there was another male who appeared to be attempting CPR resuscitation on the stricken man.
“There was a male lying unconscious on the floor of the utility room. There was a voice coming from a mobile phone that was on speakers and it was a female talking another male through the CPR.”
“The male performing the CPR began to tire so I took over administering CPR,” Sgt Morgan explained.
“I continued performing CPR on the male because it was difficult to perform checks on him in the extremely narrow utility room.”
“After a short period of time fire brigade and ambulance crews arrived at the scene. They carried the male into the kitchen and checked his vital signs. They reported the male was dead for some time, his body was chilly and rigor mortis had set in.”
Sgt Morgan claimed he then began to take details of the people at the site, while also identifying the deceased guy as Ricardis Loveikis, via a driving license in the house.
The other two males at the residence were both of Eastern European heritage too, living locally.
“The male performing the CPR stated that he last saw Ricardis Loveikis between 6pm and 7pm on March 17 and that he had arrived at his home that evening [March 18] at approximately 6.15pm.”
“He had known the deceased male for five years. He arrived at the house and upon opening the side door he saw him on his side on the floor of the utility room and he rang the emergency services.”
The inquest heard that Mr Loveikis was wearing black work trousers, black shoes, a black E&I Engineering t-shirt and a cream coat when he was found on the floor.
At 7.10pm Superintendent Kelly was phoned and Buncrana priest Fr John Walsh was also summoned, arriving at the site a few minutes later.
Sgt Morgan said he took note of the evident marks on Mr Loveikis’ torso. He had a few minor wounds on his face and hands, a little scratch on his left cheek, a bruise on his chin, and a scratch on his nose. He has marks on his left hip in addition to his visible hip.
“I did a check-in; the house was clean and there were no indications of a struggle,” he declared.
“I was told by friends at the scene that Mr. Loveikis worked for E&I Engineering at Burnfoot and was a heavy drinker, especially vodka.”
At 7:25 p.m., he was pronounced deceased.
At the inquest, Buncrana Garda Station’s Garda Eoghan Reid described to the jury how he also remembered “a number of marks” on the body and how, the next morning, he recognized Ricardis Loveikis when he saw Dr. Linda Mulligan, the Deputy State Pathologist, at Letterkenny University Hospital.
An overview of Dr. Mulligan’s post mortem results was given to the inquest by Dr. Catriona Dillon.
His body was covered with several scratches and bruises, according to her. There was a fracture deformity of the left shoulder, red areas on the skin of both knees, and an injury to the left side of the chest with a huge area of purple bruises.
In accordance with injuries related to resuscitation, there were fractures to the sternum and ribs; however, there were also other broken ribs with significant soft tissue hemorrhage that did not seem to be connected to resuscitation.
According to her, there was a total upper arm fracture that caused the shoulder joint to move downward. Widespread soft tissue bleeding in the left chest and upper arm was linked to this.
In addition, Dr. Mulligan discovered that Mr. Loveikis had an enlarged heart and was extremely drunk—four times the legal limit—when he passed away, with a reading of 263 microgrammes of alcohol per decilitre.
The dead displayed indications of significant fracture-dislocation of the shoulder, severe blunt force trauma to the left side of the chest and left upper arm, and fractures to the left ribcage, which may have limited breathing before death.
Significant bleeding also occurred in the soft tissues of the left chest, left upper arm, and left shoulder joint as a result of these injuries. The inquest heard that these variables would have put additional burden on his already vulnerable heart.
She decided that any of these wounds could have come from a serious fall or from a car accident. They did not fit the description of injuries from an assault.
None of the injuries were serious enough to result in death, according to the inquest’s hearing, and death might have been avoided if medical attention had been sought sooner.
The deceased may have been asleep for some time before to his death, according to Dr. Mulligan, and the presence of red patches on both knees suggested that hypothermia might not be completely ruled out.
He may have experienced more severe bleeding than a typical healthy person due to his heavy alcohol consumption, which likely affected his ability to clot.
Coroner McCauley clarified that in addition to his alcohol intoxication and severe injuries, which put a great deal of extra stress on his body, Mr. Loveikis’ enlarged heart put him at risk.
“His enlarged heart could have gone into arrhythmia at any time, and he could have passed away.”
“His body was under stress due to severe trauma, and his high alcohol consumption at the time of his death made his heart more susceptible to an arrhythmia.”
Following the medical evidence, Coroner McCauley asked Sgt Morgan to clarify more details regarding the road traffic collision at the Slab Road the night before the death.
There was no one at the site when Gardai arrived at the Slab Road, Burnfoot but there was a smashed van there, which they were able to tie to Mr Loveikis.
“The registered owner of that vehicle was the person who found Mr Loveikis,” Sgt Morgan added.
“Thereafter, we launched an inquiry to determine whether Mr. Loveikis was inside that car when the collision occurred.”
The guards collected CCTV, witness testimony, and used DNA and footprint analysis, but the results were all deemed inconclusive.
According to Sergeant Morgan, “We were always speculating that he was there, but we never really pinpointed that he was in the vehicle at the time of that collision.”
The inquest heard that neither the driver-side nor passenger door of the van could have been opened following the collision and it’s probable that Mr Loveikis fell onto his shoulder when making his way out.
The ditch was quite a distance below us. It would have required any passenger or driver to climb out the window. We speculate that he might have fallen out of the van. It was a very cold night and the impact was rather modest in speed.
Sgt. Morgan stated that it was “more likely than not” that Mr. Loveikis’ injuries were from the crash [or fall] the night before he passed away, adding that the Gardai had ruled out any possibility of assault or foul play.