An Aberdeen shop keeper, who was caught more than four times over the drink-drive limit, had to be subdued with pepper spray.
Zaman Iqbal, whose address was given as his parents’ shop, Sweet News, on the city’s Crown Street, appeared at the city’s sheriff court yesterday where he admitted the offences.
Fiscal depute Jamie Dunbar told the court the 25-year-old was spotted by police standing next to his car on Willowbank Road at about 5.20am on June 12.
Officers spoke with him and noticed his speech was slurred, so they asked him to take a roadside breath test.
Mr Dunbar said that, when the constables attempted to arrest him, he became aggressive and began struggling violently with them.
One of the officers removed their PAVA spray and warned Iqbal to calm down, but he refused to comply and they used it on him.
They then restrained his legs and took him into custody at Kittybrewster Police Station.
The results of the test showed he had 102 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 22mcgs.
Defence agent Bob Anderson told the court that Iqbal had gone out drinking with friends after a shift at his parents’ shop.
He had initially planned on staying sober, so had taken his brother’s car into town and subsequently decided to drive home at the end of the night.
Mr Anderson said Iqbal was “at a loss” to explain his behaviour towards the two police officers and added: “He lost all sense of reason and reacted violently.”
Deferring sentence on Iqbal for reports, Sheriff Christine McCrossan disqualified him from driving in the mean time.
Sheriff McCrossan added: “There are two issues of concern to me which lead me to be unable to deal with this at this stage.
“One, is the level that you were over the limit, which was extremely high. The other is the way you resisted police officers, which I will have to consider.”
Iqbal will be sentenced next month.
