A
man has been fined more than 7,000 Turkish Liras (around $2400) for
“insulting” an on-duty police officer during a basketball game, after
the officer yelled at his nine-year-old boy with Down syndrome for
accidentally hitting his pants.
On Jan. 10, Mustafa Yıldız
brought his wife and two children, including Emircan Yıldız, who suffers
from Down syndrome, to watch a basketball game between Torku Konyaspor
and Trabzonspor in the Central Anatolian province of Konya.
The family sat among Trabzonspor fans, where a police officer, identified as R.G., was on duty.
According
to reports, Emircan Yıldız left a mark on the officer’s pants after
inadvertently hitting him a few times out of excitement, prompting the
policeman to order Mustafa Yıldız to “take his child to the other side.”
“This is a special kid. Why are you acting like this? You ill-mannered man,” Yıldız reportedly said to the officer.
Yıldız
filed a complaint against the officer after the game, saying the
officer insulted him, which in turn led R.G. to press charges against
the father.
While dismissing Yıldız’s complaint for lack of
adequate evidence, the court ruled that Yıldız insulted the police
officer by calling him “ill-mannered.” Yıldız was sentenced to pay a
fine totaling 7,080 liras, in addition to R.G.’s legal expenses, which
was another 1,800 liras. The fine was postponed for five years and will
be rescinded if Yıldız does not commit a crime during this period.
“Emircan
doesn’t know what it is to make something dirty because he is a special
child. I reacted to the police officer because he made my son sad and
made him cry. But I will appeal to a higher court to reverse this
judgment,” Yıldız said, adding his son was traumatized by the incident.
