A 39-year-old Drumnadrochit woman trying to stop a drug habit kicked a police officer during an arrest.
Inverness Sheriff Court heard that officers were called to the Loch Ness-side village at about 6.10am on July 12 last year on another matter.
Stephanie Norman was intoxicated, fiscal depute Roderick Urquhart said, and was told she was being arrested.
He added: “As the handcuffs were being applied, she kicked constable Moira Baird on the inner thigh.”
Defence solicitor Duncan Henderson said: “I am instructed to apologise to the court and the officer. She is trying to turn her life around, is on a methadone programme for her habit, and has a job as a cleaner.”
Ordering Norman to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work, Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood told her: “This was a completely unnecessary assault on someone only doing their job.
“Given your record, it is an alternative to a custodial sentence.”
