Following the viral incident where a resident of Thomson Grand condominium insulted a security guard for clamping his BMW and mocking him for being “poor”, the Union of Security Employees (USE) issued an update on the situation revealing more information on the incident.

Union of Security Employees’ (USE) statement

USE President Brother Ardi, General Secretary Brother Raymond and Mediation Services Officer Brother Irwin, visited the officer, Senior Security Supervisor Lydia and her Ops Manager Derrick Foo at their worksite at Thomson Grand, a condominium project at Sin Ming Walk this afternoon.

As reported in the media, the man had parked his vehicle at the residents’ parking area. On 3rd April 2023 at 0104hrs, the duty security officer, SO Sheelan, noticed the illegally parked vehicle. He attempted to contact the man to move the vehicle but failed after 5 attempts. Following procedures, he proceeded to place a written notice on the vehicle.

At 0700hrs on the same day, the man confronted SO Sheelan about the notice, claiming that he owned a few units at Thomson Grand and could park there even if he did not have a decal. He then left.

At 0810hrs, the man returned and parked his vehicle at the same location. SO Sheelan reported the matter to SSS Lydia, who then proceeded to issue another written notice at 0920hrs. She attempted again to contact the man but failed after 8 times. She then proceeded to clamp the vehicle at about 0940hrs, as required by the condo’s by-laws.

At about 1320hrs, the man confronted SSS Lydia and recorded the confrontation. One of the condo’s residents reportedly shared this video with local media. USE was shown the bodycam footage and it clearly showed the man banging the glass panel of the guardhouse, and also hurling insults at the officers, including of them being poor.

USE will assist SSS Lydia and OM Derrick to report this matter to the Police. We reiterate that USE strongly condemns this act of man. SSS Lydia and OM Derrick were merely executing their tasks, which included enforcing the by-laws with respect to illegal parking. What the man did was unwarranted, and the personal insults were hurtful and shocking.

The Private Security Industry Act was enhanced last year to offer security officers better protection against man like these. USE hopes that this incident will be probed further and just punishment be served.

At the same time, USE would like to share that there has been yet another case reported. We will update with more details in a later post.

Source: Union of Security Employees (USE)

A 55-year-old SBS Transit bus captain was killed in a fatal bus accident after losing control of his bus and crashing into a tree on 9 October last year.

State Coroner Adam Nakhoda delivered his findings during a coroner’s inquiry hearing on Monday (10 April), finding no evidence of foul play but also not being able to determine why the driver had lost control of his bus.

The bus driver, 55-year-old Singaporean Liu Shan Liung, was driving his empty bus towards Hougang Bus Depot at the time of the accident, driving along Defu Avenue 1 and heading towards Hougang Avenue 3 at about 2.47am in the morning.

He then crashed his bus into a tree outside the entrance of the bus depot.

The bus was seen in the bus depot’s CCTV footage turning into the depot but missing the entrance and driving onto a grass patch along the perimeter fence of the bus depot instead, before hitting a road sign and traffic light but continuing to drive forward for about 100 metres before ultimately crashing into a tree.

A security guard at the bus depot had seen the bus driving past him at the time before hearing a loud bang shortly after, and he then immediately called for an ambulance before checking on the driver and finding him trapped in the driver’s seat.

Rescuers and paramedics from the Singapore Civil Defence Force were then deployed to extricate the trapped driver and they took about an hour to pull him out of the wreckage, but by the time they freed the driver, he already had no signs of life and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Liu’s autopsy showed that he had died from multiple injuries sustained from the traffic accident, and nothing out of the ordinary was found in his urine, blood and stomach; he was however found with occluded arteries, although there was no evidence to suggest that he had a medical emergency before the fatal crash.

The bus was also sent to an investigator to see if there were any mechanical faults and all was normal, with the investigator finding that the engine and tyres of the bus were in serviceable condition – however, steering and brake tests were not able to be performed.

The braking and steering parts were determined to be in good condition though, according to visual inspections, and there was also no evidence of any mechanical faults that might have caused the accident.

The deceased’s wife was also interviewed by police investigators and he was determined to have not had any disputes with anyone and was mentally well.

His wife also revealed that Liu suffered from high blood pressure but it was managed with medication, and he also had a clean traffic record, with the police determining that there was no foul play suspected.

State Coroner Nakhoda ruled his death as a traffic misadventure and offered his condolences to his family and three children, who are still studying.

Recap

A SBS Transit bus driver was killed in a traffic accident on 9 October 2022 at about 2.47am, along Defu Avenue 1 heading towards Hougang Avenue 3.

He had crashed the empty employees’ bus into a tree outside the Hougang bus depot.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force said that the driver was trapped in the seat and extricated by SCDF personnel, before being pronounced dead at the scene by a paramedic.

Photos and videos of the accident emerged online showing the bus with the windshield destroyed in the aftermath of the tragic accident.

SBS Transit said that the driver was driving the bus to the Hougang Depot at about 2.40am when it crashed into a tree outside the depot after losing control.

The vice president for customer experience and communications for SBS Transit, Grace Wu, said that they are deeply saddened by the driver’s passing and have extended their heartfelt condolences to his family.

She added that they are in close contact with them and will render all the support they need.

Two hikers, a 67-year-old man and another 51-year-old man went missing on 10 April in the forests of MacRitchie Nature Trail and Reservoir Park, resulting in the Singapore Police Force, the Gurkha Contingent and the Aerial Response Team being activated to look for them.

Officers from National Parks Board (NParks) and the Public Utilities Board (PUB) also assisted with the search, and the two men were later found and rescued within 3 hours.

The police were alerted to the missing hikers on 10 April at about 5.56pm, and the missing hikers were found at about 7.02pm, both unhurt.

Singapore Police’s statement

[𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗶𝗸𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻 𝟯 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀]

On 10 April 2023 at 4.56pm, the Police were informed that a man was lost in the forested area within the MacRitchie Nature Trail & Reservoir Park.

Police resources including officers from Tanglin Division, Gurkha Contingent and the Aerial Response Team were swiftly deployed to locate the missing man. Officers from NParks and PUB, Singapore’s National Water Agency, also assisted in the search.

The missing man was subsequently located at 7.02pm. He was found together with a fellow male hiker. Both men, aged 67 and 51, were unhurt.

NParks would also like to advise the public to stay on the designated trails while trekking, and observe the opening hours of our nature reserves and nature parks, which are 7am to 7pm. For urgent matters, they can call the NParks helpline at 1800-471 7300.

Public advised to stay on the trail(s)

To prevent hikers from getting lost while hiking, NParks advised the public to try and stay on the designated trail because stepping off the trails could result in them getting lost, as well as disturbing the natural habitat by stepping on the flora and fauna in the area.

NParks also advised hikers to observe the operating hours of 7am to 7pm for the nature reserves and parks to ensure their safety, as it lets the wildlife rest, as well as not to disturb the nocturnal animals.

A 4-month-old baby in Singapore was previously reported to have suffocated to death back in 2021 after falling into a gap between the bed and the wall, and her death had been ruled a misadventure by the state coroner Adam Nahkoda in his findings released earlier this week, according to Channel NewsAsia.

What happened?

At the time of the tragedy, the baby was just learning how to flip, with her parents saying that previously, she couldn’t hold up her head or continuously flip herself.

The baby usually slept on a mattress that was laid on her parent’s bed in the corner of the room beside the wall, and there was a gap that measured about 22cm wide and 25 cm deep between the bed and the wall.

The baby slept on the mattress beside the gap until she was 2 months old, and her mother then shifted it to prevent the child from falling into it, as well as placing a pillow on the floor in case the baby fell down.

From 19 December 2021 to 20 December 2021, in the evening, the mother was video calling the baby’s father while he was working.

She then fell asleep with her baby with the video call still ongoing. Then at about 2 am or 3 am, the baby’s father checked on the video feed and saw that the baby was still on the mattress facing upwards before he then fell asleep at his workplace at about 4 am.

The baby then cried at about 5 am and it woke the mother up, and she then went to make a bottle of milk for the baby before going back to sleep and leaving the baby to drink from the milk bottle herself.

She later woke up about an hour later at about 6 am and realised the baby was no longer on the mattress, and saw the baby’s legs pointing upwards from the gap.

She then looked into the gap and saw her baby facing downwards towards the bed, and pulled her out, with the baby being non-responsive after being pulled out.

The baby’s eyes were also closed and she had dried milk coming out of her nose, and the mother then cried for help and a tenant who lived with them rushed over to see what happened.

The tenant noticed that the baby was cold, and wanted to make sure that she was not choking on anything by hitting her on the back.

When it didn’t work, he performed CPR on the child before paramedics arrived at the scene at about 6.30 am and conveyed the baby to Ng Teng Fong Hospital, but it was too late and she was pronounced dead at 7.44 am, with the cause of death later determined to be positional asphyxia, which is when a person cannot breathe because of their airways being blocked due to their body positioning.