Matthew Broderick's Unpublicized Car Collision: A Tragic Incident in Northern Ireland That Claimed the Lives of Two Women and Involved the 'Ferris Bueller' Star
In August 1987, a car accident near Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Ireland, left an indelible mark on the lives of many. The accident involved a rented BMW driven by Matthew Broderick, the famous actor, and his then-girlfriend Jennifer Grey.
The tragic event took the lives of two women, Anna Gallagher (28 years old) and Margaret Doherty (63 years old), who were in the other car. The accident occurred around 3 p.m. on a sunny afternoon, and the cause may have been a sudden rain squall or Broderick getting confused about driving on the left side of the road.
Broderick himself suffered serious injuries, including a concussion, broken ribs, a broken leg, and a collapsed lung, and was hospitalized for four weeks. Grey, who was a passenger in the car, survived with less severe physical injuries but developed chronic pain and eventually required spinal surgery due to the accident.
The legal consequences of Broderick's involvement were relatively minor. He was convicted of careless driving and fined $175 (approximately £125). Despite the accident's tragic outcome, the legal penalty was minimal, leading to public reaction that viewed it as lenient. Martin Doherty, who lost his mother and sister in the crash, stated that Broderick got the same punishment he would have got if he'd run over cattle.
The family of the two women killed in the other car long believed that Broderick got off with a slap on the wrist. They considered this charge a "travesty of justice." However, in 2002, Martin Doherty publicly forgave Broderick.
Broderick expressed concern for the people in the other car immediately after the accident. He wrote a note to the Doherty family expressing remorse in the days following the crash, but there was no other contact. Grey often thinks about the family in Ireland who lost their loved ones in the accident.
Grey accepted that Broderick was a great driver and nobody was drinking during the accident. She stated that there was no answer for the accident as it was just a tragic accident. Matthew Broderick had no memory of the car accident.
In recent years, there have been reports that Broderick was going to meet with the Doherty family as a form of closure, but it is unclear if that meeting ever took place. The accident overshadowed the aftermath of the physical trauma with the tragic loss of life and the controversial legal response, which contributed to a complex public memory of the event.
