New year's revel lands tourist in prison

Tourist who came to Dubai to celebrate new year's eve found guilty of assaulting a police officer.

DUBAI // A 27-year-old American tourist who came to Dubai to celebrate new year’s eve will spend six months in prison after a court found him guilty of assaulting a police officer.

F?A had been drinking alcohol before the incident, the Dubai Court of Misdemeanours ruled on Sunday. He was fined Dh1,000 for consuming liquor.

He denied the charges in a previous court appearance in March and claimed police had assaulted him.

Prosecutors said F?A threw a punch at one officer, AH, as he was being taken into custody.

Police received a report on December 31 about a drunken man creating a disturbance near the Address Hotel in Dubai Mall.

Three officers responded and found F?A kicking parked vehicles and harassing revellers. Three men were fighting with F?A, trying to stop him from causing damage.

A?H told the court that he and two colleagues caught F?A, who resisted and then kicked at the interior of the police car. When A?H climbed into the vehicle to calm him down, F?A hit him in the face.

A forensics report confirmed that F?A suffered multiple injuries to his arms, chest, back, head, neck and face. The report said there were multiple bruises on his body and a bite on his left hand.

The judge asked the officers why they failed to question the men they claimed were assaulting F?A. Police did not give a reason, but insisted F?A was already injured when they arrested him.

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