Dubai: A man assaulted a policeman and injured him when he tried to stop the former from driving away quickly, a court heard on Wednesday.
Two policemen were said to have suspected a sports utility vehicle [SUV] that was parked in front of a mosque in Oudh Al Mutaina in October.
Once the policemen asked the two passengers in the SUV to present their personal identification cards, according to records, one of them said he was not carrying his papers.
Upon looking inside the car, one of the policeman spotted tools that are commonly used by addicts to consume drugs before he asked the passengers to step outside the vehicle.
The passenger immediately responded and stepped out, while the man behind the wheels, a 32-year-old from Comoros Islands, did not move.
When one of the policeman tried to stop him from driving away, the latter grabbed the policeman by his hand and took off.
The policeman was injured, said records.
Prosecutors accused the suspect of assaulting a policeman.
The suspect pleaded not guilty when he appeared in the Dubai Court of First Instance.
When presiding judge Fahd Al Shamsi asked the suspect if he had any defence or if he plans to hire a lawyer, he contended: “He (the policeman) said that I grabbed his arm. How is that? I was sitting inside my vehicle and he is the one claiming that I assaulted him.”
The policeman claimed to prosecutors that the incident happened after he and his partner suspected a car parked in front of a mosque.
“We went to the driver to check on his papers. When I suspected that they had tools used to consume drugs, I asked them to step out of the vehicle to search it. The passenger stepped out and we prevented him from running away. Meanwhile, the suspect switched on the engine wanting to drive away … when I tried to stop him, he grabbed my arm and drove quickly. He pulled me with him for a few metres but I freed myself,” he testified to prosecutors.
A ruling will be heard on June 6.
