A man assisting his wheelchair-bound brother to exit a lift found himself “internet famous” overnight. Here’s what happened.
Video of Brawl at VivoCity Lift Lobby Goes Viral
On Sunday (1 December), a video uploaded by user “Sanico Sanico” onto the Facebook group “Complaint Singapore” drew the attention of many Singaporeans. The video showed a physical brawl which happened at the basement 2 lift lobby of VivoCity.
At the start of the video, a few men could be seen attempting to restrain a man with a backpack at a VivoCity lift lobby.
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However, the man in the backpack managed to break free. He ran towards one of the lifts which were closing.
Just as he was about to reach the lift, he fell to the ground alongside one of the men who was attempting to restrain him at the start of the video.
As the man got up from the ground, a woman in a rainbow shirt can be heard telling the man to “stop” and “cool down”. However, after the man got up, he grabbed the woman’s black tote bag and flinged it away.
In response, the woman can be heard saying: “Eh, hello, this is my bag!”
The woman then once again told the man to “cool down” before walking away to retrieve her tote bag from the ground. The video then showed the man in the backpack pressing the lift button several times, before the video ended.
The original video uploaded on Facebook has since been removed.
How the Brawl Started and Why it Happened
While the video gives one little to no idea of how exactly the brawl even started in the first place, one of the parties involved in the brawl has since stepped forward to explain the circumstances surrounding it.
The man in the backpack seen in the video is named Suresh Vanaz. On Monday (2 December), Suresh posted a TikTok video explaining how the brawl broke out.
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@sureshvanaz VivoCity problem tonight I believe there’s a beautiful story behind it where some idiots just post small stories come in front of me to challenge #VivoCity #sureshvanaz #seelanletch #caregivers #Malaysia #Singapore ♬ original sound – Suresh Vanaz
Apparently, the viral video originally uploaded by “Sanico Sanico” on Facebook had been “edited”. While he does not explicitly say how the video was “edited”, he is presumably referring to edits made to the video which excluded the broader context surrounding the brawl.
According to Suresh, he was initially in the lift with his wheelchair-bound brother. When the lift doors opened at the basement 2 lift lobby, he attempted to back out of the lift while pulling his brother’s wheelchair.
Now, I’m sure most Singaporeans can agree that when you see people exiting the lift, regardless of whether the person exiting is wheelchair-bound or not, you should give way to them first before attempting to squeeze your way onto the lift. After all, this is common courtesy.
But as we know, what is meant to be “common” is never actually very common.
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Suresh shared in his TikTok that while he was trying to back out of the lift with his wheelchair-bound brother, he had knocked into a man standing outside the lift doors. The man then reacted by shouting at Suresh: “Bro, you cannot see ah,” before confronting Suresh, asking him to “come and settle” matters.
Suresh admitted that upon being challenged, he did get angry at the man. He shared that the man’s wife and family also got involved in the matter and started “talking rubbish”.
However, according to Suresh, the man and his family subsequently ran away.
So, unlike the original Facebook post’s claim that the brawl started as a result of a wheelchair user being unable to enter the lift, the story appears to be completely different.
In the TikTok, Suresh also shared that this was not his first time encountering such inconsiderate behaviour where people did not give way to those exiting the lifts. He added: “When the lift door opens, give way. Give way to those who are taking care of the physically challenged.”
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And you know what? He’s right.
Man in Backpack Lodges Police Reports Against Facebook User Who Posted the Original Video
In a follow-up TikTok uploaded by Suresh, he thanked netizens for all their kind comments on his previous TikTok, and also furnished a few other updates in relation to the incident.
@sureshvanaz my humble thanks to each and everyone out there who have supported me along the roller coaster that I have been going through this days and thanks for your lovely blessing for my brother and I’m seriously very speechless to think everyone and I officially made a report on the Filipino lady who posted a video with the edited version and not telling the truth we will take legal action on her and do the right thing but my humble request to each and everyone out there please let my brother out of this subject if you love to wish him go on if you love to see him PM me I’ll be more than happy to share the beautiful energy around but please give the respect to both of us thank you for all your love officially the police will take the action… #sureshvanaz #seelanletch #God #Singapore #Malaysia #VivoCity #caregivers #Brothers ♬ original sound – Suresh Vanaz
Suresh shared that he went back to VivoCity and was told that the CCTV footage of the incident could not be revealed.
He also emphasised that he would let the authorities handle the situation from here on out, sharing that he had lodged two police reports against the Facebook user “Sanico Sanico”, who had posted the original video of the incident.
The first police report lodged against “Sanico Sanico” was in relation to the video itself. As Suresh had also mentioned in his first TikTok, the video seemed to have been “edited”.
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He shared that he managed to reach out to the user, and received snarky responses from the user such as “Sue lah”.
Wah… Asking for it sia.
Suresh also lodged a second police report against “Sanico Sanico”, after finding out from netizens that she is allegedly a foreign domestic worker who is moonlighting.
In case you did not know, foreign domestic workers are not allowed to moonlight. According to Ministry of Manpower (MOM) guidelines, they are only allowed to work for their employer at all times.
So, what’s your take on the incident?
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