ICA officers removed from duty for hitting reckless truck driver near Woodlands Checkpoint

Singapore – At around 4:40 pm on Friday, December 21, two Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers encountered a reckless driver along Woodlands Checkpoint which ended up with the officers hitting the driver.

According to the officers, the driver disobeyed their orders and drove recklessly which could have caused an accident to those around him. The two officers were conducting their traffic duties at Woodlands Crossing and when they saw the truck. They instructed the driver to take a lane towards the departure clearance. However, the driver did not take heed of the instructions and recklessly swerved three lanes from the rightmost lane of the Woodlands Town Centre Road to the one nearest the officers. This action could have caused an accident and harm to both the officers and other motorists.

The officers then apprehended the driver but a video that captured this moment also showed the two drivers physically hitting and hurting the driver as he sits on the ground. A police investigation is currently ongoing while the two officers have already been discharged from operational duties.

ICA states that it “does not condone such behaviour, even if the driver may have disregarded the safety of others and has referred both officers to the police following our preliminary investigations.”

The ICA might be discouraging the reaction of the officers for being unprofessional, but netizens are taking the side of officers.

Facebook user Horace Koh understands that the officers are human too and that this reaction is only natural especially when someone’s reckless behaviour could have seriously caused harm to others.

Netizen David Ho asks everyone to think about the actual jobs of the officers who work daily at the busy checkpoints at Woodlands and Tuas.

Meanwhile, Ct Qasz says that the ICA officers using violence is another issue, especially if there was no video that serves as proof.

Watch the video here: