Lorry driver caught by Police Scotland near Moy after hitting and seriously injuring a charity cyclist on A9 may have been under influence of cocaine
A charity cyclist was seriously injured in an early morning collision on the A9 when he was struck by a lorry whose driver may have been under the influence of cocaine. Inverness Sheriff Court heard that police failed to take a drugs swipe from 33 year old James McTaggart after the accident near Dalwhinnie on July 9, 2023, because the officers had not been trained to do so. However, road traffic colleagues who can carry out the test were tasked to trace McTaggart and found him in a lay-by near Moy six hours later.
The test proved positive for the Class A drug and a blood test taken at 8.19am showed five times the legal limit of a metabolite of cocaine. He said he had taken two lines of cocaine after the 2.15am incident to 'calm himself down'. Sheriff Ian Cruickshank was told by fiscal depute Victoria Silver that the cocaine metabolises into Benzoylecgonine but it can take four to six hours for the compound to be produced by the liver.
Ms Silver added: "Police estimate that cocaine could have been taken before the accident but it remains possible it could have been taken afterwards."
McTaggart's lawyer, Kevin Hughes said that his client's explanation was that the wraps of cocaine were left over from a party two nights before the accident and he took the drug after the accident. McTaggart admitted causing serious injury by careless driving, which left cyclist James Baker with multiple fractures to his clavicle, ribs, thoracic vertebrae, liver bleed and a ruptured lung. He also admitted drug driving on the A9.
The Sheriff jailed him for a total of eight months and banned him from driving for 23 months.
However it is likely he will only serve 10 weeks due to the early release of certain prisoners scheme. McTaggart claimed at the scene to police: "I just didn't see him". Mr Baker was not wearing a reflective vest, was cycling on the road at the time and not the cycle lane and without the rear support vehicle which left the switch-over lay-by just 40 seconds too late.
McTaggart told social workers that he did not blame the cyclist and accepted it was his responsibility to see what was on the road. Dashcam footage showed the moment of the collision with Sheriff Cruickshank noting: "I could see him." The Sheriff decided against immediate sentencing and took the lunchhour to decide what to do with McTaggart.
When he came back, he told the court: "I remain sceptical of your explanation but with that said it would be wrong of me to conclude that the level of cocaine was there at the time of the collision. "The real issue is the degree of carelessness. I have given full consideration to the time of day that it occurred and having reflected on all that has been said, and having viewed the CCTV multiple times, it is difficult to comprehend how you failed to see the cyclist in time to avoid the collision.
"Therefore I put the degree of carelessness at a high level and therefore there is no alternative to a prison sentence."
Mr Hughes said afterwards that his client was taking a couple of days to think about whether there should be an appeal against sentence.
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