Dashcam footage shows two police officers dragged by car by motorist fleeing scene
By: Aviemore, Scotland - Dashcam footage from a police car shows the horrifying moment a mother pulled over by police sped off dragging two officers along Aviemore’s Grampian Road.
43-year-old Lauren Baird gave a false name and details to police, who had stopped her car in the village late at night in the village because a computer check revealed the vehicle had no insurance.
But when officers challenged her about the inaccurate information she gave at 10.35pm on July 10, 2023, Lauren Baird of Osborne Place, drove off at speed, dragging the two officers along the B9152 road to the danger of their lives.
Inverness Sheriff Court was shown dashcam footage of one officer detaching himself after a few feet and the other officers only managing to free herself several yards along the road and was left having to use crutches.
Fiscal depute Susan Love told Sheriff Sara Matheson that she still had not returned to work.
Osborne appeared in person and admitted culpable and reckless conduct to the danger of the officers' lives; attempting to pervert the course of justice by giving police false details and attempting to conceal the vehicle she was driving whilst having no license or insurance.
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.
Sentence was deferred until June 3 for a background report and a restriction of liberty order assessment.
Her bail was continued.