Drunk man ran in front of car

A man displayed “crass stupidity” when he deliberately ran out in front of a moving car.

The driver swerved to avoid Sebastian Wrzos when he stepped out into the traffic with arms outstretched on Lerwick’s Holmsgarth Road.

But the car hit Wrzos, 30, of Port Arthur in Scalloway anyway, causing him minor injury.

A four-year-old girl was in the car and was left terrified by the experience.

Wrzos was fined £300 and ordered to carry out 70 hours of unpaid work when he appeared today at Lerwick Sheriff Court.

But he was warned to stay out of trouble in future or expect a prison sentence.

Procurator fiscal Duncan MacKenzie said it would come as no surprise to learn Wrzos was drunk at the time of the incident, which happened on 21st December.

“The complainer was driving his vehicle and saw the accused on the pavement, and noticed the accused made eye contact with him,” he told the court.

“Then, without warning, the accused ran into the road in front of the car with his arms outstretched as if to stop the car. It was an act of outrageous, drunken stupidity.”

He added the car veered to the right but the driver was unable to avoid knocking Wrzos over.

“The complainer had his four year-old daughter in the car with him and to say that the girl was traumatised is an understatement indeed. She was terrified.”

Mr MacKenzie added there was “no justification” for the way Wrzos had behaved. The accused, he said, was fortunate not to have suffered more serious injury than the bruising which resulted.

The court heard that Wrzos then stood up and declared he had to “get out of here”.

Defence agent Tommy Allan said Wrzos had been out the night before and had had “a very big night” where he had taken a lot of drink.

He said Wrzos had been putting a friend on the boat, prior to which he had been drinking in Lerwick.

“He can remember waiting for the bus but can’t really remember anything after that.”

Mr Allan said Wrzos’ explanation was that he was unable to find his wallet, and had thought his wallet had dropped onto the road. But he said there was no evidence of the wallet being there.

“He accepts this was his fault and it was a stupid thing to do.”

Sheriff Philip Mann told Wrzos he had put others at risk as well as himself.

“This was a very dangerous thing to do, not really because it had the potential to cause you serious injury – that would have been entirely your own fault – but because it had the potential for serious injury being caused to other people.

“In swerving to avoid you the complainer could easily have collided with someone, or something, else.

“Fortunately for you, you were the only person injured as a result of your own crass stupidity.”

He added: “I think you need to look at your lifestyle. You have accumulated a number of convictions in this court since 2008. If you appear in this court again I think you could be looking at a custodial sentence.”