MOSCOW, April 14. /TASS/. The prosecutor's office is asking the Moscow Meshchansky Court to send Joseph Tater, a US citizen accused of assaulting a police officer, to a psychiatric hospital for compulsory treatment, his lawyer Polina Vlasyuk told TASS.
"The doctors at the N. A. Alekseyev Clinical Hospital, where my client was forcibly admitted as soon as he was released on his own recognizance a month ago, just informed me that law enforcement will forcibly escort Tater to the Meshchansky court for his trial. The supervisory authority asked the district court to send him for compulsory treatment at a medical institution providing psychiatric care in inpatient settings, but we believe that this is illegal and we will seek a fair resolution to the case," she said.
TASS learned via Tater’s case file that doctors had examined him and diagnosed him with a mental disorder. The American also underwent an inpatient forensic psychiatric evaluation at the V. P. Serbsky National Medical Research Center, where doctors confirmed his lack of mental fitness. If the court decides Tater is unfit to stand trial, he will be sent for compulsory treatment at a psychiatric facility.
On August 12, 2024, the American arrived at the Radisson Hotel in Moscow, where he began swearing and behaving aggressively, getting into a verbal altercation with hotel staff, who refused to check him in without information about his previous place of residence in Moscow. According to the investigation, Tater provided this information, but the record was poor and he wasn’t allowed to check in.
Police were called and Tater was taken into custody. At the station, he refused to provide any identity documents and grabbed a law enforcement officer by the arm roughly. On August 14, the Moscow Meshchansky Court found the US citizen guilty of committing an administrative offense under Part 1 of Article 20.1 of the Administrative Code (disturbing the peace), sentencing him to 15 days in jail. The next day, the Investigative Committee of Moscow opened a criminal case into him (under Article 318 of the Criminal Code) for attacking a police officer. The court sent him to jail.
Tater pleaded not guilty.