BUS PROTEST MUM ASSAULTED DRIVER AND POLICE OFFICER
WOMAN LAY DOWN IN BACK SEAT AND REFUSED TO GET OFF VEHICLE
A WOMAN with a previously “impeccable good character” refused to get off a bus and lay down on the back seat in a protest of defiance, a court heard.
The incident happened in Evington Road, Leicester, when Tamdr El-Sanhouri was asked to get off the bus because of an earlier disagreement with the driver. Jonathan Dunne, prosecuting, said: “When she refused to get off he got out of his cab. She shoved him and shouted at him. Then she lay down on the back seat.”
Police were called and during a struggle at the police station “she kicked the leg of an officer, who suffered grazing and abrasions,” added Mr Dunne.
El-Sanhouri, a mother of two, of Welland Vale Road, Evington, admitted common assault on the bus driver and assaulting an emergency worker. Michael Haggar, mitigating, said: “The defendant is 49 and of impeccable previous good character. She’s sorry.”
A WOMAN refused to get off a bus and lay down on the back seat in a protest of defiance, a court heard.
The bizarre incident happened in Evington Road, Leicester, when the driver asked Tamdr El-Sanhouri to get off his bus because of an earlier disagreement.
Jonathan Dunne, prosecuting, told the city’s crown court: “It’s a sad case, she’s managed by her actions to bring herself to this court when there was absolutely no need for it.
“On Tuesday, January 21 last year she got on a bus. The bus driver says he’s had previous dealings with her that didn’t end well, although no charges resulted.
“The bus company said the driver couldn’t have her on the bus again, so when she refused to get off he got out of his cab.
“She followed him, shoved him and shouted at him.
“Then she got on the bus and lay down on the back seat.
“The driver called the police explaining she’d pushed and shoved him.
“The police attended and asked her to get off the bus but she was rigidly lying on the back seat.
“From an officer’s bodycam recording [not shown in court] it’s clear they’re deciding how on Earth they’re going to deal with her, because the driver said he didn’t want to take the matter further - but then changed his mind and said he’d make a statement [formal complaint]. The only way to get her off was to arrest her for assaulting the bus driver.
“At the police station they needed to take her photograph and fingerprints – but she told the custody officer she wasn’t going to be fingerprinted.
“She was wearing a scarf and was adamant her hair would not be visible.
“The police bent over backwards to maintain her dignity and avoid using force – they were respectful and proportional.
“At one point the defendant sat in a chair and said ‘I’m enjoying this.’
“She said ‘I’m not giving my fingerprints, you’ll have to make me.’ “During the course of a struggle she was kicking out and kicked the leg of an officer, who suffered grazing and abrasions.
“If she’d just got off the bus she wouldn’t have been arrested in the first place and would have avoided the scuffle in the fingerprint room.” El-Sanhouri, a mother of two, of Welland Vale Road, Evington, Leicester, admitted common assault on the bus driver and assaulting an emergency worker. Michael Haggar, mitigating, said: “The defendant is 49 and of impeccable previous good character.
“She’s never been in a situation like this.
“She was distressed and upset by the bus driver who, I’m told, had been aggressive towards her on an earlier occasion. “She’s sorry and remorseful. “She was sensitive about the fact she had a headscarf, didn’t think she should be there [at the police station] and acted wholly out of character.
“She is currently on benefits.” Sentencing, Recorder Simon King said: “It’s really surprising and disappointing to see someone like you standing in the dock in court.
“You have no previous convictions or any prior contact with the criminal justice system and people have written positively glowing references about your good work in the community and the support you provide to people.
“You’re someone who shouldn’t be here and the reason you are is the consequence of your behaviour in January last year.
“I think it caused you some difficulty to accept your responsibility in relation to these events, but you have pleaded guilty.
“Bus drivers and police officers, they’re not all perfect and they don’t always get their jobs right at every turn, but over the last year during the Covid pandemic they’ve had to do jobs that are really difficult and what they don’t need is someone like you making their lives even more difficult.
“I accept you have a very low risk of reoffending and are sincerely remorseful.”
El-Sanhouri was placed on a 12month community order and will have to carry out 60 hours of unpaid work.
People have written positively glowing references about your good work in the community Recorder King