A 23-year-old who spat at police officers' faces in south London and claimed he had coronavirus blamed his behaviour on being stressed.
Karan Singh, of Homestead Way, Croydon, was jailed at Croydon Crown Court on Friday.
He admitted three counts of assault on an emergency worker, use of threatening or abusive words or behaviour, and possession of cannabis.
Singh was sentenced to four months in prison, with another four months to run consecutively for breaching a previous suspended sentence.
The Metropolitan Police said that officers saw Singh in a car on a driveway in Lower Addiscombe Road, Croydon, on March 14, despite being disqualified from driving.
When they began speaking to him, they noticed a strong smell of cannabis, and as they prepared to start searching the car he made a bungled attempt to drive off, stalling the engine. Ten snap bags of cannabis were found in the car.
In custody, Singh hurled abuse at interviewing officers, and struggled with three of them as they tried to take him back to his cell. He spat in their faces, telling them that he had Covid-19.
Later, he said that he did it because he had been waiting for hours and “got stressed out”.
Singh admitted that he had lied about having the virus, and apologised to the officers, one of whom had to go to hospital for checks.
Superintendent Dan Knowles, from the Met’s South Area Command, said: “It is never acceptable to spit at an emergency worker, whether it is during these unprecedented times or not.
“Singh carrying out this vile act and then lying about having coronavirus was a deplorable thing to do and it caused a great deal of distress for the officers and staff who were just trying to do their job and keep London safe.
“Offenders who think this is an acceptable thing to do will be arrested and placed before the courts, and a prison sentence is a likely outcome.”
