Drink-driver who threw coffee at police officer is sentenced
A man who threw coffee over a police officer after being arrested for drink-driving has been disqualified for 20 months and fined more than £1,100.
Sussex Police officers on patrol in Grand Parade, Brighton, at around 1pm on July 12 became aware of an argument involving a man and a woman in a Renault Megane.
The vehicle was stopped and the driver, railway employee Gregory Moran of Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, was given a roadside breath test, which he failed.
The 32-year-old was arrested and placed in the back of the police vehicle, at which point he picked up a cold cup of coffee from the centre console and threw it at one of the arresting officers.
He was arrested and charged with driving with 75mcg of alcohol per 100ml of breath in his system – the legal limit being 35mcg – assaulting an emergency worker and obstructing police in the execution of their duty.
At Brighton Magistrates’ Court, Moran was convicted of all three offences. In addition to the driving ban and fines totalling £1,106, he was ordered to pay £85 costs and a £110 victim surcharge.
Moran was among 83 motorists arrested during a summer crackdown on drink and drug-drivers by Surrey Police and Sussex Police, which ran from June 29 to July 12.
Of those, seven have since been convicted in court. The remaining have either been charged, released under investigation or released without charge.
