Fatal Tampines accident: Car workshop employee files police report ...
SINGAPORE — A car workshop employee has filed a police report after he got death threats against him and his family for posting dashboard camera footage of the lead-up to a Tampines road accident that killed two people on Monday (April 22).
Mr Anthony Soon, a senior adviser at car repair and maintenance firm Success United, said that online users had mistaken him for the driver of a white Mercedes-Benz, which appears to have been sideswiped by a black Saab.
Speaking to TODAY on Wednesday, Mr Soon clarified that he was not the driver of the Mercedes-Benz and had posted the footage on the SG Road Vigilante Facebook page on behalf of the driver who did not have a social media account.
In an update on Wednesday, the police confirmed that a 42-year-old male car driver who was assisting with investigations has been discharged from the hospital and was then “placed under arrest for dangerous driving causing death”.
“His driving licence has also been suspended with immediate effect," the police added.
TODAY understands that the arrested man was the driver of the black Saab.
The accident at the junction of Tampines Avenue 1 and Tampines Avenue 4 resulted in eight people being taken to the hospital.
Two of them, 17-year-old Temasek Junior College student Afifah Munirah and 57-year-old pest control company employee Norzihan Juwahib, died from their injuries.
Mr Soon said that he posted the footage “not because of insurance reporting (purposes)” but because he wanted the public to know that the white car was not in the wrong.
He did not think there was anything wrong with helping to share the footage on social media.
“Because of this, people have threatened to rape my daughter, photos of me and my family have been posted online and people have called me and (given) me death threats because I posted that video on Facebook. Even when I go down to buy food, people also recognise me,” he added.
In response to TODAY’s queries on Mr Soon, the police confirmed that a report had been made.
A social media post allegedly written by the actual driver of the white Mercedes Benz trying to “rationalise and clear up obvious misconceptions” also fanned the flames and worsened the situation for Mr Soon.
On this, Mr Soon said that the post could not have been written by the driver of the white Mercedes-Benz, describing the driver as a man in his 50s who spoke in Mandarin and understood little English. Mr Soon added that the driver had engaged the services of his firm four times before this incident.
Police investigations are ongoing.
