ITE students chase AMK hit-and-run e-scooterist

After she was knocked down by a speeding electric scooter in a void deck, the elderly woman's main concern was that the culprit did not get away.

As he fled instead of helping her, she shouted at a group of students nearby: "Chase him! Chase him!"

They ran after him, but he was too fast on his e-scooter.

The victim's husband, a cabby who was waiting for her at a nearby carpark, also tried in vain to give chase in his taxi.

The e-scooterist is now wanted by the police to help in investigations into the incident at Block 538 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5 at around 5.30pm on Tuesday.

Six students from the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) College Central in Ang Mo Kio told The New Paper that they saw an e-scooter zooming past near a lift lobby in the void deck.

When the rider suddenly fell off his machine, they realised he had hit a woman from behind just as she stepped out of a lift.

One of them, Miss Siti Nur'Ain Jumaat, 20, said: "We thought the rider would help the lady, we were shocked when he just rode away."

After they failed to catch him, they helped the victim, who was bleeding badly from a cut on her nose.

Miss Nur'Ain went to a nearby convenience store to buy a box of plasters while her friends - Miss Nurul Hazirah Osman, 20, Mr Muhammad Aqil Azmi, Mr Raden Afiq Raden Amran, Mr Muhammad Zulfiqar Rosli and Mr Muhammad Nur'Fauzan Mohamed, all 19 - attended to the victim.

After cleaning the elderly woman's wound with wet wipes, they dressed it with a plaster to prevent infection.

They offered to call the police, but she declined because she wanted to pick up her granddaughter with her husband.

The victim, who wanted to be known only as Madam Lee, 65, told TNP yesterday that she is grateful to the students and hopes to thank them in person.

"If no one was there, I would have fainted at the sight of my blood," she said in Mandarin.

"They didn't even want me to pay for the plasters."

Her daughter, Ms Sharon Sim, 35, took Madam Lee to make a police report on Tuesday evening and posted about the incident on Facebook .

She said her mother has bruises on her knee, elbow, ribs, chest and shoulder.

The second-year students in ITE's machine technology course said they had helped Madam Lee because they would like others to do the same if their grandparents encountered a similar situation.

Mr Zulfiqar, who rides an e-scooter when delivering for UberEats, said the rider's fleeing was a "cowardly move".

"He should have taken responsibility for his actions and helped the woman," he said, adding that e-scooterists should always alert pedestrians of their presence.

ITE College Central's principal Ang Kiam Wee said: "Our students stepped up to do what was right at the right time. We are very proud of them."

"At ITE, we believe in equipping students with not just skills for careers, but also the correct values in life. Their public-spiritedness is a positive encouragement to all our students and staff."

The police said on Wednesday night that the rider was last seen wearing a black helmet, a black long-sleeved T-shirt, knee-length denim pants and slippers. He was carrying a black and red haversack.

They are looking for him to assist with investigations into a case of rash act causing hurt.

Anyone with information can call the police hotline at 1800-255-0000 or go www.police.gov.sg/iwitness. All information will be kept confidential.

There have beenfour other reported cases involving e-scooters since last Thursday. Two involved children hit by e-scooters. The others involved e-scooterists injured in accidents with vehicles.

The first nine months of last year saw 110 e-scooter related accidents.

About 30 were collisions with pedestrians on public paths. The rest were of users illegally riding on roads.