Drunk ex-ICA officer who drove into concrete barrier gets 3 weeks' jail, S$6.5K fine

SINGAPORE: A former officer with the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority who had crashed into a concrete barrier while drunk was given a jail sentence as well as a hefty fine on Thursday (Oct 22).   

Thirty-five-year-old Ken Ong Wei Qi had earlier pleaded guilty to a total of four charges, two of which were for drink driving and driving without due care and attention. However, because he had lied to the police after his accident, he also pleaded guilty to two counts of giving a public servant false information.

The mishap

Between midnight and 2:00 a.m. on June 14, 2025, Ong, who was an Assistant Superintendent of Police at ICA, had consumed three glasses of whisky on ice at a location on Prinsep Street.

While he planned to arrange for a driver to his home in Pasir Ris, he was unable to secure one, so he chose to drive himself.

According to reporting from Mothership, at the slip road into Loyang Avenue, Ong lost control of his vehicle, resulting in a collision with a concrete barrier on Tampines Expressway toward Seletar Expressway.

After walking home, he requested his father-in-law to go back to the scene of the accident with him.

The police had discovered Ong’s abandoned vehicle at around 3:50 that morning. When Ong and his father-in-law arrived forty minutes later, Ong told the police that the car was his, but added that he had not consumed any alcohol before driving home.

Instead, he claimed to have drunk three cans of beer at home and that the damage on his vehicle was old.

The car was at the location where the police found it because it had stalled as Ong was driving home, he further claimed.

However, Ong failed a breathalyser test the police gave him, which led to his subsequent arrest. Further testing showed that he had 76μg of alcohol in every 100ml of breath, more than twice the prescribed limit.

In another police interview later that morning, Ong changed his story, saying that he had consumed some alcohol before driving, but adding that he had also drunk two or three cans of beer at home before returning to his car. This resulted in more resources being expended as the police investigated his story.

Aside from the jail sentence and fine, Ong is not allowed to hold or obtain any driving licence for 36 months. /TISG

Read also: Singapore to lower drink-driving limit to 15 micrograms as road deaths reach 10-year high