Police national serviceman hits 80-year-old woman with bicycle, jailed for negligent driving causing death

SINGAPORE: A routine trip to retrieve his uniform ended in tragedy when a 22-year-old police national serviceman collided with an 80-year-old woman, who later died from her injuries.

Case details

As reported by Shin Min Daily News, further investigations revealed that the suspect rented the shared bicycle to retrieve his uniform so that he could report for duty that night. Dashcam footage from a passing bus shows the suspect passing three pedestrians before reaching an intersection. He was then so focused on checking the road conditions on his right that he failed to notice the elderly woman walking on his left, causing the left handlebar of his bicycle to collide with her. The elderly woman lost her balance, fell to the ground, and severely injured her head.

The suspect immediately attempted to provide first aid to the elderly woman and called an ambulance. After getting medical attention, the elderly woman was diagnosed with intracranial injury and ultimately rested for two days after the incident. 

Other details confirmed that the suspect’s speed at the time of the incident was between 8 and 12 kilometres per hour, whereas the speed limit for cycling on the sidewalk was only 10 kilometres per hour. 

The suspect’s lawyer emphasised in court that he offered immediate help when the accident happened, which mitigates other factors in his sentencing. Moreover, the suspect is still young and has a bright future ahead of him. With this, his lawyer pleaded leniency and for the judge to consider imposing a fine. If jail time is needed, the lawyer hopes for a four-day imprisonment. 

The suspect pleaded guilty to one count of negligent driving causing death on Monday (August 24), and was sentenced to one week of jail time and a fine of $5,000. 

Other related news 

In similar news, there was a report where a teenager faces 10 charges after injuring a police officer while trying to flee on a personal mobility device (PMD).

The teenager pleaded guilty to six charges, including reckless conduct causing grievous bodily harm, underage driving, reckless driving and breach of trust. 

Read more about the news story here.