Woman who injured two police officers when she drove off at speed as they were questioning her jailed
A mum has been jailed after she dragged two police officers along the road when she drove off after giving them a false name.
Lauren Baird, 43, put the lives of the constables in danger when she fled at speed in Aviemore, Scotland.
Inverness Sheriff Court was told the officers challenged her about the inaccurate information she gave at 10.35pm on July 10, 2023.
Baird accelerated away and the two helpless victims were fortunate not to have gone under the car on the B9152 road between Kincraig and Rothiemurchus.
Sheriff Sara Matheson was shown dashcam footage of one officer detaching himself after a few feet and the other officer only managing to free herself several yards along the road.
She was left having to use crutches and has still not returned to duty.
A tearful Baird was jailed for 18 months and banned from driving for 43 months.
Baird had previously admitted culpable and reckless conduct to the danger of life, attempting to pervert the course of justice by giving false details and attempting to conceal her vehicle and driving without a licence or insurance.
Sentencing her, Sheriff Matheson told Baird: 'This was appalling behaviour.
'It put two officers' lives in danger. It was pure luck their injuries weren't a lot worse. But it has had a significant psychological effect on them.'
Defending, Natalie Paterson said that her client 'didn't appreciate the terrible consequences her actions had caused. She panicked when she was stopped by the police. which is a decision she regrets.'
Fiscal depute Susan Love previously told Sheriff Sara Matheson that the female officer still had not returned to work.
Ms Love told the court that police had difficulty in obtaining Baird's true details in a half hour conversation during which she showed the officers a photograph she claimed was her but clearly it was not.
The court heard that the one truth she delivered was that she was staying at the nearby Coylumbridge Hotel but when she was told she was being arrested, she drove off at speed.
Ms Love added: 'It was fortunate that the officers did not go under the wheels of her car.
'They were taken to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness for treatment to grazing, bruises, head swelling, an injured knee and a staved finger.'
When their police colleagues checked the hotel soon after the incident, they found her there. Her car had been concealed in a forest road close to the property.
However Ms Love told the court that she had used the bolt to prevent the house key unlocking the door and permission was granted for a forced entry.
'But she continued to delay matters and was in the bathroom getting dressed.. But the officers could hear the sound of the toilet being repeatedly flushed.'
Drugs possession charges against Baird were dropped by the prosecution service.
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