Jail for man who was tasered after attacking police officers while resisting arrest

Samuel Devaraj
The Straits Times
Dec 30, 2021

A man who continued walking on a busy road attacked police officers who tried to arrest him when he ignored their orders to move to safety.

He was later tasered as he continued to behave aggressively and resist arrest. The incident in August 2020 was captured in a video that went viral.

On Thursday (Dec 30), Hassan Mansoor Mohammed Ameen, 30, was sentenced to one year and 29 weeks in jail after pleading guilty to two charges of voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from his duty and a charge of disorderly behaviour in public.

The Singaporean also pleaded guilty to a charge for a drug offence after he was found to have consumed methamphetamine on Jan 22 this year.

The drug was found in a urine sample obtained from him after his arrest for threatening his father.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Niranjan Ranjakunalan told the court on Thursday that two police officers on patrol had spotted Hassan walking on the road at the junction of Esplanade Drive and Fullerton Road on Aug 21 last year.

He was walking against the flow of traffic and caused cars near him to either stop or slow down to avoid hitting him.

When engaged by one of the officers, Hassan moved to the pavement briefly before continuing to walk on the road.

The officer told Hassan he would be placed under arrest if he did not move off the road. When he did not comply, the officers called for backup.

After another four officers turned up, Hassan continued to ignore instructions to get off the road.

DPP Niranjan said: "The accused also adopted a fighting stance at one point, shouted repeatedly and told the police officers that they were fake police officers."

When they tried to arrest Hassan, he behaved aggressively and swung his hands wildly. He pushed an officer on the chest and swung his right arm and hit another officer on the right side of his face.

Another officer then tasered Hassan. He fell down briefly but managed to get up and remove the probes from his body.

Hassan then punched one of the officers before running off against the flow of traffic with the officers in pursuit.

When they caught up with him, Hassan, who had taken off his top by then, continued to resist arrest. He was finally arrested after being tasered again.

After his arrest, Hassan was admitted to Singapore General Hospital.

On Aug 27, he wanted to go down from his hospital ward to buy a drink and became aggressive after a nurse told him he should not do so due to his medical condition.

Five security officers and an auxiliary police officer were called.

When Hassan entered a lift, the auxiliary police officer stopped the lift from going down. Hassan then kicked the officer on his left thigh.

In his written submissions for sentencing, DPP Niranjan said Hassan had demonstrated his contempt for the police officers and had belittled them.

Referring to the road incident, he added: "The incident attracted significant media attention and the video of the incident went viral, resulting in the prospect of erosion of public respect for police authority."

Hassan's lawyer Tan Zhi Rui said in mitigation that the incident was a momentary lapse in her client's better judgment and that he had faced personal obstacles in his life.

She added that the media attention was a regrettable consequence and that it was unintended.

Hassan's sentence was back dated to Jan 8 this year, the date of his last arrest.

The Straits Times

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