A TEENAGER who tried to stop police taking his mentally ill friend to hospital has appeared in court.

Callum Blackpool put his bike in the middle of the road to block the police vehicle as other young people "videoed" the incident in Clifton, said Jessica Lister, prosecuting.

Then the 18-year-old tried to prevent police removing it and threatened to sue an officer if the incident left his bike scratched.

He also splashed liquid on the officer as he waved a bottle about.

The officer was trying to take a man with suicidal thoughts to hospital, she told York Magistrates Court.

Defence solicitor Kevin Blount, said the man in the police vehicle was Blackpool's friend, who had tried to self-harm.

Blackpool had thought police were arresting him, not helping him.

Blackpool, of Evelyn Crescent, Clifton, pleaded guilty to obstructing police.

"The police were simply doing their job," district judge Adrian Lower told him. "They were getting him (the friend) to hospital where he could be assessed and given the appropriate treatment."

He warned Blackpool that the next time he came across police doing their job not to make their task harder than it needed to be.

He fined Blackpool £120 and ordered him to pay a £32 statutory surcharge and £85 prosecution costs.