A 6-year-old boy was killed earlier this year when he was pinned under a car at a zebra crossing of a carpark exit at SAFRA Toa Payoh while he was on his kick scooter.

The death was ruled by the State Coroner Adam Nakhoda on 16 November to be a traffic misadventure, as he presented his findings.

What happened?

The Japanese boy was riding his kick scooter across a zebra crossing when the driver, Chua Kok Siong, ran over the child with his car on 15 April.

Chua was delivering wedding cards to SAFRA Toa Payoh on 15 April and after he was done with his errands, he drove up the exit of the carpark with his passenger, heading for lunch.

He noticed that it was raining so he then turned on the windscreen wipers.

The boy was heading to the playground at SAFRA Toa Payoh with his mother and 2 other siblings.

The mother was holding her youngest son in her hands while the deceased and his older brother were ahead of them riding their kick scooters on the pedestrian walkway.

The older boy, who was ahead of the deceased, stopped at the zebra crossing for traffic to pass.

Chua stopped his car abruptly before the zebra crossing for the boy to cross, before moving his car forward.

However, the deceased then rode towards the zebra crossing without stopping and appeared to be turning his kick scooter to the left in an attempt to avoid collision with the car.

However, he slipped and fell down, resulting in the car running over him.

The state coroner said that he found the boy’s forward momentum led to him being unable to stop in time to avoid collision with the car.

Didn’t realise he had run over the boy

He added that it was likely that Chua stopped the car after seeing the boy’s mother running forward and gesturing, in addition to him feeling the impact and hearing the sound.

Chua then stopped and alighted to see the boy pinned under his car.

He then turned off the engine and used a vehicle jack to lift up his car, while another motorist did the same with another vehicle jack.

Chua’s passenger then called the ambulance, and the boy was extracted from the car by paramedics.

He was then conveyed to KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

The boy was then pronounced dead on 20 April at about 11.18 pm after his parents decided to stop treatment because of the futility – they were informed that there was a high chance of irreversible brain damage and brain death.

His cause of death was certified as the result of multiple injuries sustained from the traffic accident.

The boy’s heart was also donated.

Nakhoda said in his findings:

“This was a tragic loss of a young life. It falls, inevitably, on parents to be additionally vigilant with young children that they may be accompanying on the road especially in situations such as in the present case.”

Images source: Google Maps