Banned driver hit officer with door as he drove away

Adisqualified driver who was caught behind the wheel without a valid licence struck a policewoman with his car door as he tried to escape from the officer.

Liam King, 22, also attempted to swerve past a line of cars in Aberdeen city centre as he sped away from police officers on September 18 this year.

Depute fiscal Ryan Diamond told Aberdeen Sheriff Court that concerns about King’s driving on Crown Street were reported to police at 2.07am.

But when they approached his green Ford car and opened the driver’s door he refused to remove the keys from the ignition and get out, as requested.

“At that time, he made off, accelerated harshly and attempted to swerve past the path of vehicles in front,” Mr Diamond said. “This being while the car door was still open causing the door to collide with a police officer.”

The female officer was left with soreness to her left arm and King fled from the vehicle that he abandoned, before disappearing from the area.

But CCTV identified King as the driver and, being in breach of a court-imposed curfew, a warrant was put out for his arrest.

Appearing from custody shortly after, he admitted charges of careless driving, driving without insurance and while disqualified, as well as two counts of curfew breach.

Defence agent Lisa Riley said his three-year road ban imposed in August 2019 had finished, but King had forgotten to resit the extended test required for him to regain his licence.

“It was an error of judgment,” she added, referring to his additional failure to gain insurance.

She added that the father-of-two had “no intention” of hurting the officer and that he “knows it was stupid behaviour”.

“His guilty plea was tendered at the first opportunity,” she added.

Sheriff Andrew Miller pointed out that King was breaching a curfew during the careless driving incident and breached it again one month later when he was caught riding as a passenger in a friend’s car at 2am.

“He was sofa-surfing at the time, there was substance misuse and his life was spiralling”, Miss Riley explained.

“He’s now working two days a week with social work to complete as many unpaid work hours as he can on his current community payback order before December.”

Sheriff Miller spared King, of Arnage Gardens, Aberdeen, a custodial sentence.

He instead ordered him to engage with his existing order and carry out an additional 120 hours of unpaid work.

He also handed King a one-year supervision order and a 16-month ban from the road.

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His guilty plea was tendered at the first opportunity

SENTENCED: Liam King had forgotten to resit the extended test required for him to regain his driving licence.