Drunk thug who spat at police in Leeds city centre comes close to being locked up
A drunken thug who spat at an officer in Leeds while being arrested was told that he would have been locked up - if it had struck him in the face.
Luckily for Sean Couzens, his spittle hit the abdomen area of the officer, Leeds Crown Court heard.
He admitted assault on an emergency worker and was given a 15-month community order.
Police had been called to Lower Briggate in the early hours of September 7 last year to reports of a man being abusive towards others.
Couzens was warned about his behaviour but a member of the public told officers that he had been abused, so they arrested Couzens.
He resisted and shouted : “Get the f*** off me,” as they put him in handcuffs. He goaded them to Taser him.
The 25-year-old then turned and spat at the officer, which landed on his stab vest. They put a spit hood on him and took him to custody.
During his interview he denied spitting, saying he simply had something in his mouth that he wanted to get rid of.
He has one conviction for three offences, including racially-aggravated common assault, racially-aggravated criminal damage and racially-aggravated harassment.
Couzens, of Waterloo Grove, Pudsey, was given a 12-month community order for those offences in 2019.
Mitigating, Nicholas Hammond said Couzens, who works as a roofer, had the “good sense” to plead guilty to his latest offence.
He added: “It’s clear it was committed while heavily in drink. It seems to be a recurring theme. He has demonstrated remorse and the motivation to change.”
Judge Neil Clark described his behaviour as “disgusting” and told him: “Had it struck him in the face I would have no other option than send you into custody.”
On top of the community order, he gave him a 25 days rehabilitation days with probation and an alcohol activity requirement, meaning he will need to abstain from drinking for 90 days and be monitored through a tag usually attached to the ankle.