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OPERATIONS support officer Jeffrey Ching Fook Soon was so drunk one Sunday evening that he cannot recall how he ended up jaywalking on an expressway.
His dangerous act on the Pan-Island Expressway in March this year led to a five-vehicle collision and the death of motorcyclist Rajoo Subramaniam Naidu.
At the 52-year-old security officer’s inquest last month, Mr Ching, 28, was named the first potential defendant, while supervisor Meyyar Ramasamy, 27, whose lorry ran over Mr Naidu, was named the second potential defendant.
There are growing concerns about a rising number of jaywalkers, like Mr Ching. For the first nine months of this year, 6,200 summonses were issued to jaywalkers compared to 5,300 for the same period last year.
In his investigation report, Senior Staff Sergeant Colin Ong from the Traffic Police Department said that at about 6.25pm on March15, a motorist on the PIE braked when he saw Mr Ching walking unsteadily on the road ahead.
But it was too late and the car struck Mr Ching, who hit the bonnet and the front windscreen before rolling down and landing in the centre lane.
In the centre lane, motorist Tan Ching Beng, 45, had braked in time to avoid the accident, but was hit in the rear by Mr Naidu’s motorcycle.
As a result of the collision, Mr Naidu was thrown from his motorbike and run over by Mr Ramasamy’s lorry, which dragged him for a short distance.|
The lorry also hit Mr Tan’s car, which had swerved to the left.
The motorcycle had also skidded to the left, crashing into the right rear part of a taxi.
Some passers-by came and lifted the front part of the lorry to free Mr Naidu, who was pinned underneath.
He was pronounced dead shortly after by paramedics.
Mr Ching, who was injured and reeking of alcohol, was escorted to Alexandra Hospital, where his alcohol level was found to be 177mg per 100ml of blood. The legal limit for driving is 80mg/100ml blood.
Senior Staff Sgt Ong said that Mr Ching and a friend had been drinking at the Naughty Girl Nightclub at Orchard Towers.
In his findings yesterday, State Coroner Victor Yeo said the court did not have the benefit of the sworn testimony of both potential defendants, who had elected to remain silent.
It was not clear from the evidence how close Mr Naidu was riding behind Mr Tan’s car, nor how fast he was travelling.
Neither was it clear whether Mr Ramasamy had had enough reaction time to avoid a collision, or whether he had taken any action to avoid one.
Coroner Yeo said that while he had no doubt that Mr Ching had endangered his own life and that of other road users by jaywalking across the expressway and setting off a chain of events which proved to be fatal, it did not mean he was solely responsible for causing Mr Naidu’s death.
“One must carefully consider all the facts and circumstances, especially the evidence of the events that followed soon after the initial collision,” he added.
In returning an open verdict, Coroner Yeo said the court was not able to determine conclusively that Mr Naidu’s death was the result of the criminal negligence of either one or more parties involved in the accident.
At the inquiry last month, both Mr Ching and Mr Ramasamy apologised outside the courtroom to Mr Naidu’s son, Mr Jivan Babu, 24, a driver, who was in court yesterday.
