Indian-origin man sentenced for dangerous driving, abusing cop in Singapore

Singapore, Aug 17: An Indian-origin man was fined and sentenced to more than a year in prison for dangerous driving and using threatening and abusive words towards a police officer in 2020 in Singapore.

K. Pradeep Ram, 41, was handed out a prison term of 21 months and two weeks on Wednesday after he pleaded guilty to four charges, including one count of dangerous driving causing grievous hurt and another of using abusive words towards a cop.

He was fined S$5,000 and disqualified from driving for 10 years, The Straits Times reported.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Timotheus Koh told the court that on May 24, 2020, Ram breached Covid-19 protocols to drink with his friends.

Ram, who had offered to take his friend Pravin home in his lorry, started fighting with him in the car park. Under the influence of alcohol, both of them pushed, wrestled and used road traffic cones to hit each other, the report said.

Almost an hour later, while Pravin lay down on a road hump at the carpark, Ram started driving his lorry in a dangerous manner.

Pravin’s clothes got caught in the undercarriage of the lorry, and he was dragged along the road.

“He first collided into a construction barrier on the side of the road and kept going, and his lorry swayed from one side of the road to the other,” The Straits Times quoted Prosecutor Koh as saying.

The police arrived on the scene after calls for assistance and called an ambulance for Pravin.

Ram was restrained and handcuffed to a railing after he abruptly stood up and charged towards a police officer, and used threatening and abusive words towards another police officer, uttering a slew of vulgarities.

A breathalyser test conducted on Ram found 79 micrograms of alcohol in 100ml of breath, more than double the prescribed limit of 35 micrograms per 100ml of breath.

Pravin was found to have suffered multiple injuries, including an ear laceration and large abrasions on his thighs, arms and chest.

He also required skin grafts as a result of his injuries.