Police restrained Highland man with a spit hood
Police officers had to place a spit hood over a man as he was arrested in front of onlookers outside the Gellions pub in Inverness.
The city’s sheriff court saw video footage of the incident in April of this year.
Andrew Urquhart was jailed for nine months for threatening to spit on an officer and kicking a door on a police van causing it to strike the officer injuring his wrist.
Sheriff David Sutherland heard police had been called after Urquhart, described as a prisoner at Inverness, was removed from the pub after a disagreement and taken into a close.
Depute fiscal Roderick Urquhart said when 47 year-old Urquhart was told he was being taken into custody in Bridge Street on April 26 he told one of the officers: ‘I’ll spit in your f..... face’.
Another officer then placed the spit hood over his head then he was placed in a police car then transferred to a van.
The fiscal said there are internal doors in the van which struck the officer when it was kicked by Urquhart.
The officer sustained bruising and swelling to his wrist.
Urquhart’s solicitor advocate Shahid Latif said Urquhart claimed he had been assaulted by bar staff in the close before the police were called and he was trying to explain this to the officers at the time the incident was captured on CCTV footage.
Sheriff Sutherland backdated the sentence to the time of Urquhart’s remand.
