Cab fare dodger takes things to the next level, slams face-down on ground

Taxi driver, Mr Jack Tay, 36 had picked up two boys at Dover MRT station at 5.13pm on Monday.

After one of them asked to be dropped at Tanah Merah, the other boy told Mr Tay to head to Simei Street 4.

When he refused to tell him which block to go to, Mr Tay became suspicious.

The boy told him to turn into a carpark at Block 227 and directed him into a dead end.

Mr Tay said that when he stopped the taxi, another boy opened the passenger door on the right and asked his friend: "How much money do you have?"

Mr Tay said: "Naturally, I turned to my right. Next thing I knew, the passenger sitting on the left had opened the door and both boys ran in separate directions."

The gutsy cabby jumped out of his cab, locked it and ran after one of them.

He spotted a boy hiding behind a pillar at the void deck of Block 228 and ran towards him.

The boy ran up the stairs to the second storey and as Mr Tay reached the top of the stairs, he saw the boy jump off the parapet.

"I didn't even have time to shout for him to stop. He did not hesitate at all," Mr Tay said.

When the cabby looked over the parapet, he noticed that the boy had landed face down.

He had a gash on his chin, which was bleeding and left a bloody trail that Mr Tay followed across a playground and back to Block 227.

When he asked a passer-by if he had seen a boy running past, the passer-by told him that a boy had just run up the stairs.

On the second storey, Mr Tay spotted the boy crouching behind a sack of soil, begging a resident to let him into his flat, a corner unit.

He shouted and the boy, who looked panicky, tried to run but gave up as he was cornered.

Mr Tay asked a resident there, Mr Rahim Amat, 55 and his son for their help to keep the boy there until the police and paramedics showed up. He then fetched a first-aid kit from his taxi to try to stop the bleeding.

The boy, who earlier told the paramedics that he could speak only English, pleaded in Mandarin when he ignored his pleas to be let off.

Mr Tay stressed: "The boy must be punished. This is cheating.

"If he gets away scot-free, does this mean that if I encounter a fare cheat next time, I shouldn't even chase after them?"

ORIGINAL SOURCE

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