Deadliest Catch star Sig Hansen has been sentenced to just probation for spitting on an Uber driver during an argument over his fare last year in Seattle.
The 52-year-old crab-boat captain on Thursday was handed a deferred sentence, put on a year of probation, ordered to undergo alcohol treatment and pay a $43 fine.
The punishment lined up with what prosecutors recommended under a plea deal with the reality TV star in which he pleaded guilty in May to assaulting Waheed Lawal.
Slap on the wrist: Celebrity crab-boat captain Sig Hansen on Thursday was sentenced to probation for spitting on an Uber driver last year in Seattle (pictured in court)
Hansen (left) pleaded guilty last month to assaulting Seattle Uber driver Waheed Lawal in May 2017 while returning home from a celebration with his family (pictured right with his wife and daughter in 2014)
A judge handed down the sentence after learning that Hansen agreed to outpatient treatment and to abstain from drug and alcohol use for a year.
‘I hope that you will take this opportunity to make some positive changes in your life,’ Judge Ed McKenna told Hansen, according to reporting by The Seattle Times.
Hansen, who lives north of Seattle, was accused on May 18, 2017, of spitting on the driver and denting his car after learning he couldn’t pay cash for his family’s ride home.
Hansen had been celebrating Norway’s Constitution Day in Seattle’s historically Scandinavian neighborhood, Ballard, before the incident.
According to a police report obtained by TMZ at the time, the Uber app had canceled Hansen’s ride despite the customer being in the vehicle with his family.
The family had offered to pay the driver $100 in order to finish out the trip, however, Lawal declined as he claimed it was against the company’s rules.
This angered Hansen, who spat on the driver’s head and back of his seat before getting out of the Kia Sportage to kick it. The driver then fled the scene and called police.
Following his arrest, Hansen released a statement to TMZ apologizing for his conduct, which he characterized as a ‘boneheaded move.’
‘I am terribly sorry for my behavior and am very embarrassed by it,’ he stated. ‘I owe a bunch of people apologies, first and foremost to our Uber driver, who was just trying to get us home safely.’
Hansen initially pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor counts of assault and property destruction, but changed his plea to guilty a year later as part of a deal with the prosecution.
During Hansen’s sentencing on Thursday, prosecutors presented to the court victim impact statements written by Lawal and his wife.
Hansen’s exploits as the captain of the Northwestern fishing boat have been documented on the Discovery Channel’s ‘Deadliest Catch’
The 35-year-old Nigerian immigrant said the assault left him feeling fearful, depressed and ashamed.
‘In my country, in my village, if you spit in someone’s face, it is the worst insult imaginable,’ Lawal’s statement read. ‘If you spit on a person’s face, they are humiliated and they might commit suicide.’
The couple have filed a civil lawsuit against Hansen alleging assault and battery and seeking compensation for damage to their car, emotional distress and legal fees. That case is scheduled to go to trial in August.
The Discovery Channel reality TV star made headlines in March 2017 after his estranged daughter Melissa Eckstrom, 29, filed a lawsuit against him, claiming that he sexually abused her as a two-year-old.
Hansen has denied the allegations, calling them ‘an old-fashioned shakedown’ and prosecutors felt that the case didn’t need to go to criminal court.