Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam said earlier this week that the case of a driver of a Bentley who used his car to push against a security officer at Red Swastika School at Bedok North Avenue 3 has been referred to the Attorney General’s Chambers.
The incident, which occurred on Jan 11, 2022, had been caught on video and was widely circulated online. In it, the security officer, 62, can be seen standing in front of the car, trying to stop it from entering the school grounds because it did not have a valid car label.
Nevertheless, the driver of the Bentley, 61, continued to inch forward, causing the officer to sustain minor injuries.
After 15 minutes of the driver insisting that he be allowed to enter the school grounds, a teacher let him come in as he was causing a traffic jam.
The police received an alert to the incident at around 11:40 am on Jan 11, and the 61-year-old driver was arrested shortly afterwards.
Nominated Member of Parliament Raj Joshua Thomas had recently asked the Minister for Home Affairs for an update on the status of the investigation of the incident.
In a written reply on Apr 4, Mr Shanmugam wrote that investigations into the matter had been completed by the police against the driver for a possible offence of Rash Act Causing Hurt under s337(a) of the Penal Code 1871.
The police have now referred the issue to the Public Prosecutor for a decision on the appropriate course of action.
If the driver of the Bentley is found guilty of having committed a rash act causing hurt, he could face a jail term of up to one year, be made to pay a fine of as much as $5,000, or both.
The driver was condemned by many in the aftermath of the incident.
Education Minister Chan Chun Sing had also commented on the incident in a Facebook post, writing, “This is unacceptable behaviour. This is not the way we should behave towards our security and school personnel, who are performing their duties to keep our schools and our children safe.” /TISG