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Nijad Mehanna became a lawyer in 2000. (Faacebook photo)
It's seems like something out of a wild episode of "Law and Order," without the order.
A 40-year-old Macomb County criminal defense attorney is charged with punching a Roseville cop during a courtroom altercation Wednesday at 39th District Court in Roseville, Jameson Cook of The Macomb Daily reports.
Nijad Mehanna, an attorney since 2000, was arraigned Thursday on a felony count of assaulting a police officer and a misdemeanor assault charge, the paper says:
Mehanna, who practices at Hakim & Mehanna in St. Clair Shores, was representing a defendant in a drug case about 11:30 a.m. when he and the officer in charge of the case argued over Mehanna’s access to a co-defendant in the case. The pair “exchanged insults” in the courtroom , [Police Chief James] Berlin says in press release.
Mehanna walked up to the officer, pushed the officer in the chest and tried to “push past the officer into a restricted office area,” Berlin says. Mehanna then punched the officer in the face and threw several more punches before he was wrestled to the ground by the victim and courtroom officers, police said.
The victim suffered a “fat lip” and bloody nose, and several teeth were loosened, Berlin says. Mehanna was uninjured.
Mehanna earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan and a joint degree in law and business management from Wayne State University Law School.
In addition to criminal defense, he handles cases involving immigration, Social Security disability claims and business transactions. He ran unsuccessfully in April 2011 for president of the Macomb County Bar Association.
