‘False accusations and harassment': Car workshop employee files police report after posting video of Tampines crash
Anthony Soon, an administrative manager at car workshop Success United, has filed a police report claiming he is the victim of false allegations and harassment after he posted a video of the Tampines crash that claimed two lives on Monday (April 22).
The 25-second clip, which has since been removed, appeared to be dashcam footage from a white Mercedes.
It showed the Mercedes being sideswiped by a black car, which then speeds towards a junction, blows through a red light and causes a multi-vehicle collision.
The accident happened at the junction of Tampines Ave 1 and Ave 4. The 42-year-old male driver of the black car was arrested on Wednesday for dangerous driving causing death, and his driving licence has been suspended with immediate effect.
After he posted the video on his Facebook page on the day of the accident, Soon, 45, said he was accused by neitzens of being the Mercedes driver and playing a role in the crash.
But Soon, whose company is an authorised insurance reporting centre, said he was merely helping the Mercedes owner share the video as the latter claimed he had "no access to Facebook".
The driver, he added, had turned up at his office at around 9.30am on Monday to report a hit-and-run accident at Bedok Reservoir Road.
Speaking with AsiaOne on Tuesday, Soon revealed that the 52-year-old driver had also sought his help as he didn't want the public speculating that he was racing.
"Out of goodwill and with the Traffic Police's acknowledgment, I helped him post his video," he said.
The Mercedes, Soon added, has since been impounded by the Traffic Police to assist in investigations.
'False accusations and harassment'
Soon did not expect that the video would cause such a ruckus online, leaving him with no choice but to file a police report.
Apart from allegations that he was the driver of the Mercedes, netizens also circulated pictures of him and his family, he said in the police report.
He claimed that netizens cursed his daughter, harassed him with messages on Facebook and through phone calls, and shared his contact details and home address on social media.
"I was not in any way involved in this accident and do not know the circumstances of it," he wrote on his Facebook page.
Responding to queries by AsiaOne, the police confirmed that a report was lodged
Mercedes driver responds?
In a now-deleted post on Reddit on Tuesday, someone who claimed to be the driver of the Mercedes gave his side of the story.
Referring to videos showing how he had appeared to act aggressively and recklessly on the road, the user explained that he had sped up alongside the black car in an attempt to signal the other driver.
"There were also allegations of me attempting to race with the [black car]. I would like to point out that this is untrue. I had always been a safe driver."
The user added that he had "a guilty conscience that I indirectly caused the accident" and that his "rash decision" may have contributed to the deaths of the two victims.
Norzihan Juwahib, 57, and Afifah Munirah Muhammad Azril, a 17-year-old student from Temasek Junior College were killed in the accident.
According to the police, the speeding vehicle crashed into three cars, a van and a minibus, reported The Straits Times.
ALSO READ: Speeding car causes multiple-vehicle crash in Tampines, killing 2
khooyihang@asiaone.com
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