A 49-year-old Singaporean was sentenced to two months’ jail on Friday, October 31, after the cyclist ran a red light and hit a 70-year-old pedestrian, who suffered a head injury and later died.
Lu Su Min Lester pleaded guilty to causing the death of Soon Say Beng by a rash act not amounting to culpable homicide.
The court heard that on March 6 of last year, at around 5:30 am, Lu rode his bike to meet his friend at a Shell gas station on Upper Thomson Road.
Following that, they set out on their cycling route, which passed through Upper Bukit Timah Road, Mandai Road, and Upper Thomson Road.
Around 630 am, Lu and his friend rode bicycles along Upper Bukit Timah Road in the third lane of a three-lane road.
The traffic lights turned red as Lu got closer to a T-junction, but he continued riding his bike.
Lu struck the victim, who was crossing the intersection when the pedestrian light was green, after cycling across it at “considerable speed” after the lights had been red for roughly five seconds.
The victim lay motionless on the road after the impact threw him onto his back.
According to the prosecutor, he was taken to the hospital unconscious, sent to the neurosurgery department because of worries about traumatic brain injury, and required an immediate CT brain scan.
The victim’s family was later briefed by the doctors on the likely dire neurological prognosis. In light of the victim’s “best interest and likely medical futility,” the medical staff then stopped actively managing him. That same day, he was declared dead.
Lu was sentenced to two-and-a-half to three-and-a-half months in prison by the prosecutor, who claimed that Lu intentionally chose to run the red light.
Bestlyn Loo of Providence Law Asia, Lu’s attorney, stated that since her client sold his bike and stopped riding altogether, there is no chance that he will commit another crime.
When she asked if he “still intends to drive,” District Judge John Ng replied that he would still use the road, but not on a bicycle.
According to Loo, her client has “otherwise led an exemplary life” with more than 20 years of public service and is extremely repentant.
In response, Judge Ng said, “But most of the traffic cases I deal with, they all have exemplary lives. Nobody wants to get into a traffic accident.”
“A very extreme minority” was the exception, he added.
“An unfortunate situation you have found yourself in” and “very sad” for the victim’s family, he told Lu.
Lu could have faced up to five years in prison, a fine, or both for a reckless act that did not qualify as culpable homicide.
