Taser warning for bottle thug

In BRIEF

Armed response officers in Stirling city centre warned a drunk yob holding a bottle and shouting and swearing in the street they had tasers.

Robert Cumming, of Keir Avenue, immediately threw down the bottle he had been carrying in Goosecroft Road on the evening of August 22 this year.

Stirling Sheriff Court heard last Wednesday officers in an armed response unit were in the vicinity at 8.10pm.

The fiscal depute said when the officers rolled down the windows of their vehicle they could hear shouting.

They then observed Cumming walking towards them with a glass bottle in his hand.

Members of the public were standing between the accused and the police vehicle.

Cumming’s facial expression was considered to be aggressive. He told officers:‘Do you f****** want a fight? F****** come ahead you c****.

The comments, said the fiscal depute, appeared to be directed at the officers rather than members of the public. Officers shouted at Cumming to drop the bottle. They got out of the vehicle and told the accused they were armed and had tasers.

At that point Cumming threw the bottle on the ground behind him.

He was told he was under arrest but continued to shout and swear at the officers.

Thirty-nine-year-old Cumming had pleaded guilty to charges of behaving in a threatening and abusive manner and possessing an offensive weapon without reasonable excuse at a previous hearing.

His lawyer told Sheriff William Gilchrist that Cumming had been “grossly intoxicated”that day, the anniversary of a friend’s premature death.

The solicitor also pointed out that Cumming suffered from post-traumatic stress and was seeing a doctor about the matter.

He asked Sheriff Gilchrist to look into alternatives to a custodial sentence.

Sheriff Gilchrist deferred sentence for a criminal justice social work report until November 29 to find out “if there is any underlying problem with regard to alcohol.”