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Coffeeshop Chit Chat - Indon FT sibei Lau Lan</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right>
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Me, bully? I was just protecting girlfriend
Man who 'choked' another man over handphone pics says YouTube vid didn't show full story
By Ho Lian-Yi
January 12, 2009
SECRETLY SHOOTING: Mr Prihadi showing how the man held his handphone while supposedly taking pictures of his girlfriend (in black).
I WASN'T trying to be a hero. I was just protecting my fiancee.
So claimed Mr Eric Prihadi, 33, a sales director, who drew flak from some netizens after he was filmed holding a 'man in black' by the neck and using vulgarities on him.
It was uploaded on video-sharing website YouTube and later featured on The Straits Times online media portal Stomp.
Mr Prihadi claimed all he was trying to do was protect his fiancee, 27, who he is planning to marry this year.
Mr Prihadi, an Indonesian who works here, was labelled a bully for his actions, first reported in this newspaper last Sunday.
But he claims the YouTube video didn't reflect the whole story.
It all started when the couple were about to catch a movie at VivoCity on 16 Aug, he claimed.
He saw the man acting suspiciously, and only reacted when he spotted his fiancee's picture - who was wearing pink and thus was obvious - on the man's handphone.
But the man ran when Mr Prihadi tapped him on the shoulder and asked: 'Excuse me, are you taking pictures of my wife?'
Recounting the incident, Mr Prihadi said: 'Chasing him, making a scene, wasn't what I wanted. I didn't understand why he would run.'
That was when he thought the man probably had something to hide.
He gave chase for about 100m, down an escalator, and caught up when the man tripped.
The chase attracted a crowd of about 70, Mr Prihadi claimed. He then pushed the man against a pillar.
What was not shown in the video, Mr Prihadi claimed, was how he asked the crowd to call the police for him.
Nobody responded, Mr Prihadi claimed.
He asked three people standing nearby but all said they were tourists.
When someone finally whipped out a phone, it wasn't to help call the police, but to film the fracas, he claimed.
Angry
He agreed that it might not have been right for him to have used vulgarities. But, as his fiancee, said: 'Anyone would use vulgarities if you were very angry.'
Initially, Mr Prihadi claimed, he only wanted the man to delete the pictures.
But after being made to give chase, he claimed he told the man at least four times not to delete his wife's pictures. He wanted to keep them as evidence.
But the man deleted the pictures anyway. That made Mr Prihadi more angry.
After being led away by VivoCity security officers, the couple made a report with the police, who arrived about 20 minutes later.
The pictures were later recovered by the police, he said. Mr Prihadi claimed there were about 500 shots of various women in the man's phone, but this could not be independently verified.
The couple received a police letter dated 12 Dec stating that the man would be warned in lieu of prosecution for insulting the modesty of a woman.
In the letter, police also thanked the couple for their cooperation in the investigation.
As for the comments on YouTube, Mr Prihadi said he ignored them, although he did leave a comment defending himself.
He got calls from friends saying: 'Bro, you're famous now.'
But it got a bit too far when it went to Stomp, so his fiancee decided to stand up for him.
What did Mr Prihadi think of the crowd's reaction when he asked for help?
He said it may be that Asians tend to walk away from nasty situations though he admitted it happens elsewhere.
He recalled an incident in Toronto, Canada, two years ago when he saw a woman screaming in a carpark after a man snatched her bag.
He was about to give chase when he was stopped by a Caucasian friend saying to not bother, it's very common.
He also recalled how when he was a Singapore Polytechnic student, he chased two motorcyclists after he saw a snatch theft behind Paragon. He didn't manage to catch them.
'Maybe I am just confrontational,' he said.
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Me, bully? I was just protecting girlfriend
Man who 'choked' another man over handphone pics says YouTube vid didn't show full story
By Ho Lian-Yi
January 12, 2009
SECRETLY SHOOTING: Mr Prihadi showing how the man held his handphone while supposedly taking pictures of his girlfriend (in black).
I WASN'T trying to be a hero. I was just protecting my fiancee.
So claimed Mr Eric Prihadi, 33, a sales director, who drew flak from some netizens after he was filmed holding a 'man in black' by the neck and using vulgarities on him.
It was uploaded on video-sharing website YouTube and later featured on The Straits Times online media portal Stomp.
Mr Prihadi claimed all he was trying to do was protect his fiancee, 27, who he is planning to marry this year.
Mr Prihadi, an Indonesian who works here, was labelled a bully for his actions, first reported in this newspaper last Sunday.
But he claims the YouTube video didn't reflect the whole story.
It all started when the couple were about to catch a movie at VivoCity on 16 Aug, he claimed.
He saw the man acting suspiciously, and only reacted when he spotted his fiancee's picture - who was wearing pink and thus was obvious - on the man's handphone.
But the man ran when Mr Prihadi tapped him on the shoulder and asked: 'Excuse me, are you taking pictures of my wife?'
Recounting the incident, Mr Prihadi said: 'Chasing him, making a scene, wasn't what I wanted. I didn't understand why he would run.'
That was when he thought the man probably had something to hide.
He gave chase for about 100m, down an escalator, and caught up when the man tripped.
The chase attracted a crowd of about 70, Mr Prihadi claimed. He then pushed the man against a pillar.
What was not shown in the video, Mr Prihadi claimed, was how he asked the crowd to call the police for him.
Nobody responded, Mr Prihadi claimed.
He asked three people standing nearby but all said they were tourists.
When someone finally whipped out a phone, it wasn't to help call the police, but to film the fracas, he claimed.
Angry
He agreed that it might not have been right for him to have used vulgarities. But, as his fiancee, said: 'Anyone would use vulgarities if you were very angry.'
Initially, Mr Prihadi claimed, he only wanted the man to delete the pictures.
But after being made to give chase, he claimed he told the man at least four times not to delete his wife's pictures. He wanted to keep them as evidence.
But the man deleted the pictures anyway. That made Mr Prihadi more angry.
After being led away by VivoCity security officers, the couple made a report with the police, who arrived about 20 minutes later.
The pictures were later recovered by the police, he said. Mr Prihadi claimed there were about 500 shots of various women in the man's phone, but this could not be independently verified.
The couple received a police letter dated 12 Dec stating that the man would be warned in lieu of prosecution for insulting the modesty of a woman.
In the letter, police also thanked the couple for their cooperation in the investigation.
As for the comments on YouTube, Mr Prihadi said he ignored them, although he did leave a comment defending himself.
He got calls from friends saying: 'Bro, you're famous now.'
But it got a bit too far when it went to Stomp, so his fiancee decided to stand up for him.
What did Mr Prihadi think of the crowd's reaction when he asked for help?
He said it may be that Asians tend to walk away from nasty situations though he admitted it happens elsewhere.
He recalled an incident in Toronto, Canada, two years ago when he saw a woman screaming in a carpark after a man snatched her bag.
He was about to give chase when he was stopped by a Caucasian friend saying to not bother, it's very common.
He also recalled how when he was a Singapore Polytechnic student, he chased two motorcyclists after he saw a snatch theft behind Paragon. He didn't manage to catch them.
'Maybe I am just confrontational,' he said.
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