A scrap metal worker who ran out into the road in front of a moving car in Shetland has been fined and given a community payback order.
Sebastian Wrzos, 30, of Port Arthur, Scalloway, admitted culpably and recklessly running out in front of the vehicle, which swerved and was unable to avoid a collision.
Wrzos sustained minor cuts and bruises in the incident at Holmsgarth Road, Lerwick, on December 21 last year, the town’s sheriff court heard yesterday.
Fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said the incident took place at 6pm on a Saturday.
Wrzos was standing by the side of the road and made eye contact with the car driver before running into the road “without warning” with his arms outstretched as if he was trying to stop the car.
Mr Mackenzie said a four-year-old girl was travelling as a passenger in the car and “to say she was traumatised is an understatement”.
Defence agent Tommy Allan said Wrzos had been out the night before the incident and had “taken a lot of drink”.
He had been in Lerwick for two or three pints the following afternoon and could remember waiting to catch the bus home.
Mr Allan said his client had been unable to find an explanation as to why he had gone into the road, but Wrzos “knows it was a particularly stupid thing to do”.
Sheriff Philip Mann said his actions in causing the car to swerve had the potential to have caused serious injuries to bystanders and other motorists.
The sheriff said Wrzos’s “crass stupidity” was probably the result of overindulging in alcohol.
He fined him £300 and imposed a community payback order of 70 hours’ unpaid work.