A man who shoved a police officer into a busy dual carriageway as cars sped past at 70mph is facing jail.
Builder James McVey was spotted by traffic cops on a 999 call running on the A90 near Tealing, north of Dundee.
They found McVey – who was on his way home from work – in a bus layby and tried to calm him down. But instead he swore at a bus driver who pulled into the layby and started to walk towards the traffic.
PCs David Gray and Kevin Steele grabbed him just as he got to the side of the road.
The thug – who last year was spared jail for battering a woman in a taxi, leaving her with permanent scars – then shoved PC Steele into the carriageway.
The officer avoided falling into the path of traffic by grabbing McVey and spinning him into the front of the bus. A trial at Dundee Sheriff Court was shown bus CCTV footage of the incident. One of the cops told the trial: “I was scared for my life.”
McVey claimed he “just wanted to get home” and that the officers had been “aggressive” towards him.
He also claimed to have made a video call to his girlfriend to show officers had “kicked lumps” out of him.
But footage shown to the court showed no such call being made, and now McVey is facing jail after a jury rejected his claims.
Depute fiscal Saima Rasheed told jurors: “The accused walked away from the police towards the face of oncoming traffic. The officer put himself in the way of this gentleman.
“The accused struggled with Constable Steele and he pushed him, trying to push him into lane one of the carriageway.
“The only reason he didn’t end up on the road is that Constable Steele managed to spin them around and up against the bus.”
McVey, 47, of Waterston Road, Careston, Angus, denied a total of six charges.
But a jury unanimously convicted him of breach of the peace, assault to injury and danger of life, police assault and resisting arrest on September 1 last year on the A90 near Tealing, Angus.
They found a second police assault charge not proven and found him not guilty. Sheriff Linda Smith deferred sentence until next month and granted McVey bail.
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