Wheelchair-bound visitor assaults Dubai cop, taxi driver

Dubai - He is also charged with consuming alcohol without a permit.

A 61-year-old man has been charged at the Dubai Court of First Instance after he physically assaulted a taxi driver and an on-duty police officer.
Public prosecution records show that the Saudi man, wheelchair-bound and on a visit visa, pushed a police officer as he was trying to take him inside office for interrogation.
The incident took place on August 16 when the officer was responding to a report made by a taxi driver in Naif. The cabbie accused the defendant of beating him and threatening him with a knife.
The defendant also smashed the meter screen of the cab and the driver's mobile phone.
He is charged with consuming alcohol without a permit.
The taxi driver, a 31-year-old Kenyan, said that the defendant rode in his car around 7.20pm. "When we reached a Metro station, he lit up a cigarette. The man got upset when I told him not to smoke as it is against the law."
During the prosecution investigation, the driver recounted how the defendant then banged on the window glass. "He almost smashed it. As I pulled over, he opened the door, snatched my mobile phone and threw it out, breaking it. The man also pulled the meter screen and damaged it. He then whipped out a knife from his pocket and tried to assault me but I grabbed his hand and stopped him."
The driver went to the police at the Metro station. The officers then arrested the accused man.
A police corporal said the defendant was apparently drunk. "He kept insulting the driver. When I tried to take him inside our office at the station, he grabbed me by my uniform and pushed me. I also found a knife with him which the driver said he tried to use to stab him."
The corporal then handed the passenger over to a police patrol.   
The defendant claimed he was very drunk and was not aware what he did on the day of the incident.
The court will hear the case next on October 20.

mary@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai