Professor seeking PR in S’pore jailed 3 months for verbally abusing, spitting at and kicking police officers while drunk

SINGAPORE — He was in Singapore establishing business contacts with a view of moving here permanently. Now the professor will head to jail for three months instead, after he shouted racist vulgarities, spat on and kicked at police officers while he was drunk.

Jeffrey David Davis, a 53-year-old Stanford-educated researcher and a professional in user-experience design, committed his offences on the evening of March 3, after he was awoken by police officers who had found him sleeping at a bus stop along River Valley Road at about 6.30pm.

His lawyer Sim Bing Wen of Drew & Napier said that Davis had gone to the bus stop after realising the Uber ride-hailing application did not work on his phone. Uber's South-east Asian operations were acquired by Grab last year and is no longer operating in Singapore.

Davis, an American, had hoped to get a bus driver to take him back to his accommodation along Killiney Road but dozed off, Mr Sim said.

The next thing he knew, police officers were speaking to him and he thought he was getting apprehended, the lawyer added. 

The officers were trying to help him after a commuter on a bus reported to the police that she saw a man “passed out” at the bus stop.

Davis, who was still confused and wanted to be left alone, began shouting at a female officer, Sergeant Lim Yi Hui.

Among the abuse he threw at her were: “Get back in your f***ing wagon, and get the f*** away from me” and “You don’t f***ing actually tell me how my f***ing language is.” 

Using a racist slur, Davis also said: “I am a f***ing professor, you f***ing n*****”. 

Court documents stated that he was working as a professor at San Francisco State University at the time of his arrest.

For the verbal abuse, Davis was charged under the Protection from Harassment Act and sentenced to two weeks in jail.

He was also charged for spitting at Sergeant Lim's face and arm while being arrested and was given four weeks' jail for that.

He got another eight weeks behind bars for voluntarily causing hurt by kicking policeman Ruzshahfil Ngirwan on the right shin, after he was taken to Tanglin Police Division for investigations. 

The policeman was checking Davis’ jeans pocket for prohibited items when Davis, who was secured to a metal railing at the time, kicked him.

Davis’ sentence for the charge under the Protection from Harassment Act will run concurrently with the punishments for his two other convictions, so he has to serve 12 weeks in jail in total.

EMAIL OF GRATITUDE TO POLICE 

Mr Sim, who sought a nine-week jail sentence for his client, argued that Davis had put up a “defensive” act at the police division because police officers were trying to draw blood from him and he “wasn’t entirely sure” where he was, or why a needle was being used on him. 

“From start to end, Mr Davis did not set out to cause any trouble to anyone. He was not fully in control of how he was reacting to events and people around him,” Mr Sim said. 

“His behaviour was in part influenced by the fear and the anxiety from being in a completely unfamiliar situation in a foreign country.”

Noting that Davis had arrived in Singapore on Feb 13 and had attended a number of job interviews before the incident, the lawyer added: “The cruel irony of the situation is that… he was in Singapore exploring the possibility of working here. The last thing he wanted to do was to jeopardise his professional prospects in this country by getting into any trouble with the authorities.”

Mr Sim also pointed out that Davis was “wracked with guilt” when he learnt about his own behaviour towards the police officers. 

A day after his statement was taken at the police division, he wrote a letter to the investigating officer, Inspector Louis Lou, to thank him and the other police officers “for their professionalism in handling the entire incident”, Mr Sim noted.

In the letter dated March 9, Davis wrote: “The respectful demeanour that your staff bestowed upon me on March 3-4 is deeply appreciated and speaks volumes about the fine nature and character of you and your team.”

Davis also put together a personal statement addressing the Attorney-General’s Chambers, stating his “deepest regrets” and “profound remorse and humiliation for the aggrievances for which (he was) charged”. 

“Words cannot even begin to express my anguished moral compunction,” he wrote. 

In that document, Davis described himself as a professor, author, global lecturer, mentor, youth counsellor and “gentle traveller”, among other titles.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Eugene Phua submitted a 14-week jail sentence. 

When sentencing him, District Judge Hamidah Ibrahim noted that the abusive words Davis used against the policewoman were “too ill-intentioned for comfort”.

For committing criminal force on a public servant by spitting saliva, Davis could have been jailed up to four years, fined, or both. 

He could have been jailed up to seven years, as well as fined or caned or both, for voluntarily causing hurt to a public servant.

For using abusive words towards a public servant, the maximum penalty is 12 months and a S$5,000 fine.