Passers-by hailed for chasing culprits
On her way to visit her brother, Ms Tan Suyun, 34, saw a man picking the lock of a van at a multi-storey carpark at 116 Lavender Street.
To stop him, she started filming and called the police.
She then gave chase when the man and another woman tried to escape.
Cyclist Trevor Sze Chun Chie, 47, intervened when he saw the woman pushing Ms Tan, who was trying to stop them from boarding a taxi.
Yesterday, Mr Sze, Ms Tan and her sister were among three of the seven recipients of the Public Spiritedness Award.
Recalling the incident, which happened late last month, Mr Sze, an orchestra instructor, said he was cycling on his usual route at about 6pm.
He said: "I saw that Ms Tan was outnumbered, so I wanted to help."
The pair tailed the couple from Lavender Street half a kilometre away to Jellicoe Road.
Ms Tan, a tutor, even called her older sister, Ms Tan Sujun, 35, who lived in the area.
"They were on the move, so I called the police and stayed on the line to update them on their location," said the older Ms Tan.
TAXIS
During the chase that lasted about 20 minutes, the couple tried to flag down a total of five taxis and tried to board three buses.
Mr Sze said: "Every time they got a cab, Ms Tan and I would tell the driver not to drive as the man is a criminal."
He added: "When they tried to board the bus, I boarded the bus with them and told the captain not to drive away as they were trying to escape the police."
The couple got more and more agitated and the man confronted Mr Sze, punching him seven times.
"The first punch took me by surprise and hit my temple. I managed to block the other six," said Mr Sze.
The police arrived shortly after and the man was arrested for attempted theft from vehicle and voluntarily causing hurt.
The other recipients of the award was a four-man team from Sephora, who helped nab a man who took upskirt videos of female customers who visited the Bugis+ outlet.
Assistant Commissioner of Police Gregory Tan Siew Hin, commander of Central Police Division, said: "The police cannot fight crime and terrorism alone and we are grateful to have such strong support from the larger communities."
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