Singapore—A man who screamed vulgarities at three MRT staff members last weekend has been arrested. Videos of the man, who had caused a commotion on a trail along the Circle Line and at the MRT station at Bishan and who appeared to be drunk, circulated on social media on Sunday, August 23.
A report on crowdsourced news site STOMP said that he was arrested in Yishun that same day.
The man started raising a fuss on the train at about 3:30 in the afternoon, according to an anonymous STOMP contributor who had been present at that time.
The contributor wrote that they went into the train at the same time as the disorderly man at the MRT station at Holland Village. The man already appeared to be in a state of inebriation. The contributor added that they saw him drinking earlier and was bearing bottles of alcohol.
According to the contributor to STOMP, ”When a staff member approached him, he started shouting vulgarities and even took off his mask.”
The video, posted on the STOMP site, shows the man being spoken to by a staff member, who looked as though he was requesting him to put his mask on.
In the video the disorderly man is heard saying, “Tell me what you want. You tell me what you want… I ask you. I ask you. What do you want now?”
Even when the staff member used his communication device to report the man he still said, Huh, a lot of handphones ah? I don’t care,” and kept on shouting profanities at the staff member.
Two other MRT staffers came on board at Farrer Road MRT station to attempt to deal with the man. They endeavored to have the man alight from the train, to which he responded, “”Why must I go out? I pay money leh.
You can call the police. What did I do wrong? What did I do wrong? I want to go home only leh. You all do your jobs. I do my job.”
At one point, the man laid a hand on one of the staffers and said that he was not scared.
The man finally left the train at the MRT station in Bishan.
Ms Margaret Teo, chief communications officer at SMRT Corporation Ltd told STOMP, “On 23 August, a commuter traveling in a Circle Line train heading in the direction of Bishan was spotted not wearing his mask properly. An SMRT staff onboard the train then approached him and advised the commuter to wear his mask properly.
But the commuter verbally abused the staff and continued the abusive behaviour while travelling in the network. Transcom was activated and police subsequently arrested him.
We do not condone any kind of abusive behaviour towards our staff as they do their best to provide a safe public transport environment for all commuters.”
—/TISG
Read also: Three teens dealt with for vaping on board MRT train