The Online Citizen’s video alleging inaccuracies in a police statement, was labelled by Minister of Law and Home Affairs, K Shanmugam, as “despicable” on 25 May.
His comments come in the wake of the police taking the unusual step of releasing body-worn camera footage of the incident to verify their account of alleged bullying of an old woman was was not wearing a mask.
Shanmugam said:
“So TOC, you go and interview her, this old lady, try and get her to say things.”
“I would say this is despicable, and how low people will stoop. Unethical, cynical. This whole exercise by TOC is quite malicious to attack the police.”
He also said that the authorities were considering if any action would be taken against TOC.
Recap
An Instagram post by user @Nichology alleged that four police officers clustered around an old woman who took off her mask because she was feeling breathless, continuing to tell her off even after she put her mask on.
The police then posted a clarification about the incident, saying that the auntie appeared to be lost and they helped her to find her way home, even buying food for her as well because they were concerned that she might be hungry.
TOC then posted a YouTube video interviewing the old woman, who claimed that the police didn’t buy her food and chased her back.
TOC then challenged the police to released body-worn camera footage of the incident.
Shanmugam obliged
In response, Shanmugam said:
“I’ve asked police to release the clips from their body-worn camera, and you can see it, it’s clear. And once you see it, there can be no argument.”
“The body-worn camera shows that the police officer was helping the lady. He bought food for the lady, passed it on to her, and the clip also shows exactly what was said by the police officer.”
Old woman suffers from dementia
Shanmugam said that TOC’s actions were “quite malicious to attack the police, he added:
“The elderly woman’s daughter told the police she’s upset that the old lady has been taken advantage of by TOC to spin a story, because TOC had put a video of the lady saying, various things.”
“People who have dealt with people who have dementia will know that you can sometimes get them to say many things they will not remember what they had half an hour earlier.”
“TOC has done this to try and cast doubt on the police, to damage the trust that people have in the police, and is really a disservice to the thousands of police officers who have been fighting in the frontlines.”
“But I would say, keep your malice and venom to politics. They can deal with it. Don’t bring that toxicity to attack police officers, spare them. They are just doing their job.”
“As to whether any further action is to be taken, that’s a matter to be considered. It’s premature for me to comment.”
FULL VIDEO LOADING…
Images and video source: K Shanmugam Sc Facebook, CNA YouTube, Singapore POlice Force Facebook and @Nichology on IG