Road rage encounter escalates to heated confrontation at IMM carpark, police looking into matter
A road rage encounter turned into a full-on confrontation at IMM's carpark on June 7.
Stomper Bebe shared with Stomp that the incident began when he was driving near IMM at 4.45pm and noticed a black Toyota Prius swerving into his lane without signalling.
"His manoeuvre wasn't dangerous, but I immediately slowed down and sounded a short warning horn with a slightly longer honk when his car tyre entered into my lane, just to signal the danger," Bebe explained.
"Despite clearly hearing my horn, the driver did not correct his direction.
"Instead, he maintained his course and positioned his vehicle almost straddling both lanes before turning right onto the road leading to the gantry of IMM carpark (as captured in my dashcam video).
"To avoid a rear-end collision, I further reduced my speed and allowed him to proceed ahead."
The situation worsened when the Prius driver continued to exhibit erratic behaviour after turning into the carpark entrance.
"He positioned his vehicle directly in front of mine and began braking gradually and deliberately," the Stomper recalled.
"His erratic driving raised my concern.
"At this point, I attempted to change to the outer left lane, which leads to an alternative gantry, as there was no traffic in that lane.
"However, even as I changed lanes, I could feel his vehicle steering subtly towards mine once more.
"Fortunately, the presence of gantry barriers helped prevent any contact."
After clearing the gantry, the Prius came to an abrupt stop in Bebe's lane with no obstruction ahead.
"The driver began gesturing aggressively, even showing me the finger," he said. "I honked once again to signal him to move, but when I passed him, he wound down his window and started yelling at me."
In a video shared by the Stomper, the Prius driver is heard shouting: "Hey, what the hell are you doing?"
Bebe replies: "You drove into my lane," before telling the driver that he has a camera and driving off.
The other motorist is heard honking at him.
The Stomper said he chose to ignore the aggressive driver, "I just wanted to get away from the situation without further conflict," he explained.
After parking on Level 5 of the IMM carpark for a meeting, Bebe noticed the same Prius driver again.
"He drove past my vehicle, but I ignored him and went on with my meeting," Bebe said.
However, around five minutes later, as Bebe and his friend were heading towards the mall, they saw the Prius driver taking photos of Bebe's car, seemingly targeting the number plate.
"I asked him why he was taking photos, and that's when he got really aggressive," he recalled. "He pointed at me, yelled, and then charged towards me."
He said the driver shoved his chest into him and challenged him to a fight.
"I raised my elbow to block his aggression and showed him my phone with '999' dialed, warning him I'd call the police," Bebe said. "That only made him more agitated, shouting and continuing to provoke me."
Feeling increasingly unsafe, he made the emergency call to 999.
"The situation didn't stop," he shared. "He kept pushing his chest against me, and I had to step back. I started recording the incident to document his behaviour for the police."
The confrontation intensified when the Prius driver attempted to snatch Bebe's phone during the recording.
"He pushed me to the ground while trying to grab my phone," Bebe said. "I quickly got up, still holding the phone, trying to discourage any further aggression."
In the video, the other driver is heard telling Bebe: "Don't take my video."
When Bebe falls, the driver mocks him: "You fall like f***, like small baby," and tells him to delete the video.
"I take your handphone, you die ah," the driver threatens.
Bebe responds: "Wah, you want to kill me?"
"What the f*** I kill you?" the Prius driver retorts.
Bebe, still recording, repeatedly tells the man to "go away" and not to touch him. "I'm down already, this is a criminal offence," he says.
"You fall yourself, you say lawyer," the other man responds, before telling Bebe again to stop recording. Bebe responds: "It's my right."
Soon after, the Stomper said a police patrol car arrived, and the man immediately turned passive.
"The man immediately turned passive when the police arrived," Bebe explained. "I showed the officer the video evidence, and the police were able to calm the situation."
Bebe later filed a police report online, submitting the video evidence of the altercation.
"I urge that road bullying like this be stopped immediately to protect the safety and well-being of all responsible road users," Bebe said.
In response to a Stomp query, the police confirmed that a report was lodged and that they are looking into the matter.
