E-Scooter Rider Who Punched Old Man After Dispute Fined $4.5K


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Just like lawyers, it seems like if you want to be an e-scooter rider, being a dick is one of the prerequisites.

Many of them speed through large crowds, blast loud music, and even ignore traffic rules.

But now, it seems like they’ve graduated to full-blown assholery.

Assault

One e-scooter rider was recently fined for punching an old man after a near-collision.

The man, 55-year-old Lim Kim Joo, was riding his e-scooter along a pavement and nearly collided with the elderly man, 69-year-old Edwin Yap.

Lim scolded Mr Yap (yes, you’ve read it right: rider scolding the pedestrian) but the senior citizen ignored him and kept walking home.

The e-scooter rider followed Mr Yap to a void deck in Yishun Ring Road where he confronted the old man.

Lim then pushed Mr Yap on his chest, causing the senior citizen to stumble backwards and knock his elbow against a letterbox.

This didn’t satisfy the belligerent e-scooter rider, who then punched Mr Yap on the nose.

Lim continued to be confrontational, abusing Mr Yap with vulgarities and even challenging him to call the police.

Mr Yap then called the police, saying “Someone assault me here. No need ambulance. This guy is very violent.”

The old man suffered mild swelling over his nose and had to visit a doctor three weeks later as he still felt pain as a result of the attack.

Retribution

For his assault on Mr Yap, Lim was fined S$4,500. He pleaded guilty to one charge of voluntarily causing hurt and another for cursing at the victim.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Tan Ben Mathias wanted a larger fine of S$5,000 to be imposed on Lim because he viewed Mr Yap as a vulnerable victim.

He said that Lim had acted with a degree of premeditation and deliberateness because Mr Yap had walked away but Lim chose to pursue and attack him.

The prosecutor added that this was not Lim’s first criminal offence, as he had convictions dating from 1984.


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For his assault, Lim could have been jailed for up to two years.

A worrying trend

What’s worrying is that this is not the first e-scooter-related clash. One e-scooter rider reportedly collided with a child before arguing with the child’s father and exchanging vulgarities.

In another case, four e-scooter riders were jailed for injuring a pedestrian and his wife after they had collided with the pedestrian.

These attacks exemplify the need for e-scooter riders to be more careful when they ride and be more gracious if they get into any accidents with pedestrians.

I mean, we haven’t even started on e-scooters catching fire in HDB, have we?


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