A student who was stunt driving in his neighbourhood, ignored police patrols, endangered officers’ lives, resisted arrest and assaulted an officer following a 20 minute car chase, Dubai Criminal Court was told on Sunday.
At almost 4am on June 12, the Emirati, 21, was reported to police for reckless driving in Al Warqaa.
“The operations room received a report about him and had sent a number of police patrols to his location, then we heard a call for back up and responded to it,” said an Emirati police officer, 24.
He said the call mentioned that the accused was endangering peoples’ lives and driving his mother’s Mitsubishi Pajero recklessly.
Police chased him for twenty minutes in the residential area where the man drove at 100kmh in a 40kmh road, the court heard.
"We tried to stop him but he wouldn't stop. He drove towards us at high speed and when he was few meters away from us he hit the brakes, his car crashed into police cars pushing one towards the cement barrier," said the officer, who was inside the patrol car.
He told the court that he got out of the car and went to arrest the student.
"I opened the driver's door but he immediately shut it and grabbed my arm, then he reached out to a hammer on the passenger's seat to hit me with but I managed to free my arm," said the policeman, who suffered injuries from the crash and from the student's broken window.
A number of officers gathered around the car and arrested the driver.
"I didn't feel he was normal and when we finally arrested him, we found a syringe in his car, I think he was on drugs," the officer said.
Another police officer told the court he saw the defendant breaking the window deliberately. "He used the hammer to break it," the 37-year-old Emirati said.
He said the accused broke the window to escape but police quickly circled him.
The student did not attend court to enter a plea. The next hearing will be held on November 12 to summon him.
Small Victories: The True Story of Faith No More by Adrian Harte
Jawbone Press
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
Three ways to limit your social media use
Clinical psychologist, Dr Saliha Afridi at The Lighthouse Arabia suggests three easy things you can do every day to cut back on the time you spend online.
1. Put the social media app in a folder on the second or third screen of your phone so it has to remain a conscious decision to open, rather than something your fingers gravitate towards without consideration.
2. Schedule a time to use social media instead of consistently throughout the day. I recommend setting aside certain times of the day or week when you upload pictures or share information.
3. Take a mental snapshot rather than a photo on your phone. Instead of sharing it with your social world, try to absorb the moment, connect with your feeling, experience the moment with all five of your senses. You will have a memory of that moment more vividly and for far longer than if you take a picture of it.
The drill
Recharge as needed, says Mat Dryden: “We try to make it a rule that every two to three months, even if it’s for four days, we get away, get some time together, recharge, refresh.” The couple take an hour a day to check into their businesses and that’s it.
Stick to the schedule, says Mike Addo: “We have an entire wall known as ‘The Lab,’ covered with colour-coded Post-it notes dedicated to our joint weekly planner, content board, marketing strategy, trends, ideas and upcoming meetings.”
Be a team, suggests Addo: “When training together, you have to trust in each other’s abilities. Otherwise working out together very quickly becomes one person training the other.”
Pull your weight, says Thuymi Do: “To do what we do, there definitely can be no lazy member of the team.”
The%20specs
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%201.8-litre%204-cyl%20turbo%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E190hp%20at%205%2C200rpm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20320Nm%20from%201%2C800-5%2C000rpm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESeven-speed%20dual-clutch%20auto%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFuel%20consumption%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%206.7L%2F100km%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20From%20Dh111%2C195%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENow%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The chef's advice
Troy Payne, head chef at Abu Dhabi’s newest healthy eatery Sanderson’s in Al Seef Resort & Spa, says singles need to change their mindset about how they approach the supermarket.
“They feel like they can’t buy one cucumber,” he says. “But I can walk into a shop – I feed two people at home – and I’ll walk into a shop and I buy one cucumber, I’ll buy one onion.”
Mr Payne asks for the sticker to be placed directly on each item, rather than face the temptation of filling one of the two-kilogram capacity plastic bags on offer.
The chef also advises singletons not get too hung up on “organic”, particularly high-priced varieties that have been flown in from far-flung locales. Local produce is often grown sustainably, and far cheaper, he says.
