Grieving Macduff dad resisted being handcuffed on A96

A grieving father has been given a driving ban after he resisted arrest and refused to be breathalysed.

Elgin Sheriff Court heard that a police patrol spotted a car at the side of the A96 at about 10.30pm on October 7.

On stopping, the officers saw that Bryan Buchan was the only person inside the vehicle, which was parked up between Keith and Fochabers.

After the 40-year-old refused to get out of the car one of the officers placed a handcuff on his right hand. However Buchan began to “struggle violently” and countered efforts to restrain his other hand.

The police eventually managed to handcuff him and take him to Elgin police station.

When interviewed, Buchan said: “I wasn’t driving”.

In addition he also called one of the officers an “immigrant” and told him to “**** off back to Ireland”.

Defence solicitor Megan Lee said: “Mr Buchan appreciates he behaved appallingly during this incident.”

The lawyer added, however, that her client had been struggling with both mental health and bereavement issues following the loss of his two-year-old child.

Ms Lee said he’d been in a “particularly dark place” on the night of the offence.

She told the court that Buchan made his “first foolish mistake” in deciding to drive to see his cousin in a car which was no longer insured because it was about to be sold.

When the vehicle then broke down en route, he called for help. His “second foolish mistake” was opting to have a drink while waiting for that help to arrive.

Buchan had his dog in the car with him. The court was told his drunken aggression towards the police had been partly caused by concern about what was going to happen to the animal.

As this was his second drink driving offence, following an earlier conviction in 2016, he was handed a three-year ban.

Sheriff Olga Pasportnikov also placed Buchan, who’s from The Leys, Macduff, under the court’s supervision for a year.

In addition she told ordered him to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work for the community and to pay £300 in compensation to the police officer he’d abused.