Jail for man who attacked police and was tasered while resisting arrest

A man attacked police officers who tried to arrest him after he ignored orders to stop walking on a busy road.

He was tasered when he continued to be aggressive. The incident in August last year was captured in a video that went viral.

Hassan Mansoor Mohammed Ameen, 30, was yesterday 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 drug offence for consuming methamphetamine in January this year. The drug was found in his urine sample after his arrest for threatening his father.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Niranjan Ranjakunalan told the court two police officers had seen Hassan walking against the flow of traffic at the junction of Esplanade Drive and Fullerton Road on Aug 21 last year, causing vehicles to stop or slow down to avoid hitting him.

He kept walking on the road despite being told he would be arrested. The police called for backup and another four officers turned up but he 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 him, Hassan became aggressive and swung his hands wildly. He pushed an officer on the chest and swung his right arm to hit another officer on the right side of his face.

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

He punched an officer before running off. When the officers caught up with him, he continued to resist. He was arrested after being tasered again.

In his written submission for sentencing, DPP Niranjan said Hassan had demonstrated his contempt for the police officers and had belittled them. "The incident attracted significant media attention and the video... went viral, resulting in the prospect of erosion of public respect for police authority," he said.

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

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