Driver who allegedly reversed into traffic policeman charged

SINGAPORE – The driver of a car who allegedly reversed into a Traffic Police (TP) officer was charged on Saturday (Oct 30) with voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from his duties.

Ang See Seng, 37, is accused of hurting Senior Staff Sergeant Haidil Osman at about 8.55am on Oct 28.

He is alleged to have driven and reversed a car into the TP officer along Geylang East Avenue 1.

The incident was captured on video and went viral on social media.

According to the police, another TP officer was patrolling at Upper Paya Lebar Road when he saw the suspicious car.

He signalled for the driver to stop, but the car sped off, leading to a chase.

Senior Staff Sergeant Haidil had joined his colleague in pursuing the car on motorcycles.

The car stopped briefly at Geylang East Avenue 1, but suddenly reversed against the flow of traffic and into the officer on his motorcycle, before speeding off.

The car was later found abandoned along Geylang East Central, and a 34-year-old passenger of the car was arrested at the scene.

A manhunt led to the arrest of Ang and a 22-year-old man who is alleged to have been the one who rented the car and who was also a passenger during the incident.

According to court documents, Ang had just been released from prison and was serving a remission order when he allegedly committed the recent offence.

He was also charged in April for allegedly driving dangerously at Woodlands Checkpoint on June 9 last year, by recklessly reversing into a gantry barrier and damaging it.

He has been remanded for investigation and is scheduled for another court appearance on Monday (Nov 1).

If convicted of voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from the discharge of his duty, Ang may be jailed for up to seven years, fined or caned.