US citizen accused of assaulting police officer sent to Russian psychiatric hospital

An American tourist who was charged with assaulting a Moscow police officer in August has been transferred to a psychiatric hospital ahead of his trial, Russian news agency TASS reported on Sunday.

When informed he would be unable to check into a Moscow hotel due to an error in his paperwork, US citizen Joseph Tater allegedly lost his temper with reception staff and was taken to a nearby police station. There, he allegedly “pushed a police officer and hit him on the forearm”, according to state-affiliated business daily RBC.

Tater was subsequently charged with attacking a police officer and placed in pretrial detention. He was eventually released from custody last month on the condition that he remain in Russia, according to RBC.

A commission of psychiatrists tasked with evaluating Tater’s mental health identified several disorders including impulsiveness, delusion and a lack of critical faculty, TASS said.

Tater’s defence team has called his detention illegal. “The investigators were not in a position to extend Tater’s pretrial detention, so have decided to isolate my client from society by placing him in a psychiatric hospital,” they said.

At a hearing scheduled for 14 April, the court will decide whether Tater is mentally fit to stand trial or if he should remain in the psychiatric hospital, TASS reported. If found guilty, Tater faces up to five years in prison.