A stoned mourner crashed into a police van after driving backwards at high speed outside a Dundee primary school, shortly after his friend’s funeral.
Michael Coombs reversed the convertible BMW down busy Nithsdale Avenue at lunchtime and mounted a pavement before smashing into a fence.
It was after he crashed that he rammed into the police van and then made off on foot before being cornered and found to be high on cannabis.
Coombs was granted bail as a sheriff deferred sentence for reports and warned him that he was likely to be sent to jail for the incident.
Sheriff Alistair Carmichael said: “These are serious charges and a custodial sentence has got to be a likely outcome. I will continue the case to see if there are any non-custodial options, but I’m making no promises.”
Paid ‘no attention’ to pedestrians
Fiscal depute Marie Lyons told Dundee Sheriff Court: “The street has a 30 miles per hour limit and several people were using the road and the pavement.
“At 1.30pm police received calls that young males were driving a silver BMW 3, with the roof down, erratically around the grass directly opposite St Andrews Primary School.
“Several police units attended and they traced the accused in the driver’s seat, with a passenger. The police van pulled up alongside and they asked him to pull over.
“The accused immediately reversed at high speed, paying no attention to pedestrians or other road users and swerving all over the road.
“The accused reversed onto a pavement and collided with a fence. PC Kirsty Fotheringham pulled the police vehicle in front of him to box him in.
“Then the accused, whilst turning, drove into the near side of the police vehicle, causing damage to the windscreen and bodywork.”
Car later found abandoned
Officers deployed PAVA spray at Coombs as he ran off and he was eventually captured a short time later. As they were chasing him another man appeared and drove off in the BMW.
Cordons were set up and the car was found abandoned later the same day. Mrs Lyons told the court that Coombs tested positive for cannabis.
Coombs, 23, from Dundee, admitted driving dangerously by reversing at speed along the city’s Nithsdale Avenue on 7 May 2020. He also admitted driving under the influence of drink or drugs.
Solicitor Doug McConnell, defending, said Coombs had spent three months in hospital after being electrocuted in an accident when he was a teenager.
He said: “He was at a funeral for a young man earlier that day. The car had been purchased by him and his friends. I don’t know how much damage was done to the police vehicle.”
