‘Diplomat’ jailed for insulting cops

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

A man screamed obscenities at cops and spat on an Emirati lieutenant after being caught overspeeding in a numberless car. He has lost the case.

The unemployed Arab man, 30, identified himself as a diplomat during the standoff at a street in Al Barsha on May 2 last year and claimed that his father was a consul general, prosecutors explained.

He violently battered and insulted an Emirati warrant officer, 35, and Palestinian sergeant, 32, who tried to pin him down and shackle him for overspeeding and recklessness on a public road.

To intimidate them into abandoning the arrest operation he threatened to find them and teach them a lesson and that he would convince a head of police and public security to fire them from the police force.

He claimed he was from a revered family that would teach them how to behave. The Criminal Court imprisoned him for three months plus deportation. The Appeals Court has upheld the punishment.

In police and prosecution records, the warrant officer and sergeant were on patrol. They spotted the defendant overspeeding in a numberless car. They pursued him and forced him to pull over.

They asked him to show his identification document. He pulled out a driving licence bearing blurry personal data. On demanding him to present his ID, he repeatedly claimed, “I am a diplomat.”

The officer asked him for any document as proof. He replied, “Let your government prove that.” He threw a punch towards the officer. The latter dodged it. The sergeant seized him.

“I will show you,” he threatened and vowed that even if they decided to take him to the police station he would not spend a single a minute in the detention ward, and he would get out and attack them.

“I know how and where to find you,” he threatened. He pelted both police officers with foul words and uttered statements targeting the police at large. The sergeant gave a similar testimony.

The lieutenant, 24, was driving by when he saw the standoff. He heard the defendant calling upon him a rude manner. He was listening to both officers’ complaints when the defendant barked at him.

“I tried to explain to him I had come to solve the problem. He insulted me and said his father was a consul general. He asked me to come closer. I refused. He insulted police of being cowards,” said the lieutenant.

An Emirati policeman complained, “The defendant repeatedly insulted me.” The Palestinian sergeant complained of injuries and revealed, “The defendant smelled of alcohol.”