Man sentenced to life for killing police officer in car pursuit

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a September 2022 Criminal Court ruling sentencing a man to life in prison after he was convicted of killing a police officer with his vehicle in Amman in September 2021.

The court declared the defendant guilty of running over and killing First Lt. Faris Bani Khalid who was attempting to pull him over on September 24 and handed him the maximum punishment.

Court papers said the defendant was with two of his friends in a vehicle that was parked on the side of Jordan Highway late at night.

A police patrol approached the men the defendant sped off with the vehicle and a car chase ensued.

“The police patrol notified a stationed patrol in Jordan Highway to pull over the vehicle that was coming in their direction,” the court documents said.

Warrant Officer Nawaf Thiabat, who was wearing a police reflective vest, attempted to stop the vehicle but the defendant kept driving, according to court documents.

“Since the defendant did not have a driver's licence he decided to run over the traffic officer as a result and he accelerated his speed driving towards him,” court papers said.

Thiabat was struck by the speeding vehicle driven by the defendant and was rushed to a nearby hospital but was declared dead on arrival, according to the court.

 The suspect struck a pole shortly after the running-over incident and was arrested by the police, the court documents added.

 The defendant contested the Criminal Court’s ruling arguing “that there were irregularities in the court proceedings and investigations”.

However, the Higher Court ruled that the Criminal Court followed the proper procedures and the defendant deserved the verdict he received.

“It was clear to the court that the defendant’s ultimate intention was to run over and kill the police officer so that he would not pull him over,” the higher court.

The Court of Cassation Judges were Mahmoud Ebtoush, Majid Azab, Fawzi Nahar, Hayel Amr and Mohammad Shreieri.