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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Lanarkshire Live

East Kilbride man cleared of coughing and spitting at cops

An East Kilbride man has been cleared of coughing and spitting at police officers while warning them he had coronavirus.

Hamilton Sheriff Court heard this week that police and an ambulance were called to Scott Ritchie's Bute home on May 7 last year.

Mr Ritchie complained about the officers not social distancing and allegedly became aggressive.

He was charged with assaulting PCs Jonathan Bain and Natalie Barrie by coughing and spitting at them.

The 29-year-old was also accused of shouting, swearing and making rude gestures at the officers.

But a jury returned not proven verdicts on all charges.

Ritchie admitted possession of cannabis and was fined £190.

The court heard officers were dealing with an incident at his family home when he confronted them.

It was alleged he told them to 'f*** off and leave me alone'.

PC Bain told the court: "He said he was smarter than all the police officers put together.

"I was trying to calm him down, but he was screaming and shouting at us.

"He was given at least three warnings.

"Eventually he was arrested and he started shouting about social distancing. He was unhappy we were not keeping our distance from him.

"But it was impossible to do that when we were arresting him.

"He was put in the police vehicle and spat on the door. I went to put a spit hood on his head and he spat and coughed at me and my colleague."

PC Bain denied a claim that he was lying about Mr Ritchie's behaviour, saying he had no reason to do so.

But defence solicitor Elspeth Forrest said her client had not spat at all and only coughed in the direction of the floor.

She told the officer: "You are not telling the truth.

"He coughed in the back of the police car and you overreacted, understandably given the situation with coronavirus at the time."

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