Some people don’t take too kindly to being told what to do, or being informed that they’ve just broken the law.
Most of us would react by deferring to the authority figure, for fear of digging an even deeper hole for ourselves.
But a minority of lawbreakers will react with anger and direct all sorts of abuses towards the person reprimanding them.
In the case of Tay Teng How, he resorted to using a racial slur.
Man Jailed for Insulting 2 NEA Officers & Wiping His Hands On An Officer
On 22 Nov last year, two officers from the National Environmental Agency (NEA) spotted Tay smoking at a multi-storey carpark in the Bukit Panjang area.
As you may or may not know, smoking is not allowed in these carparks as it is a sheltered area. So, the pair approached Tay and asked him to stop smoking.
But the 69-year-old, who works as a taxi driver, was less than cooperative.
Upset that the officers didn’t “even give chance”, Tay refused to give his NRIC to them as requested.
He later handed it over, but when the officers returned the card to him, Tay asked for a hand sanitiser first.
Reader: Well, maybe he was just really careful about contracting and spreading COVID-19?
If only that were the case, dear reader. What he later said would show that this had nothing to do with the pandemic.
Tay said he wanted the hand sanitiser because he didn’t know if the officers were infected with COVID-19, and felt unsafe.
During the encounter, he said: “Hold my thing and then return back to me, don’t know whether you’re infected or not… both of you all don’t know from India or whatever…”
He then threw his NRIC on his taxi and wiped both his hands on the shirt sleeve of one of the officers.
“No, I have to clean it. I am very sensitive to this sort of thing,” he said.
Yes, I won’t touch things you have touched, but I don’t mind rubbing my hands all over your clothes.
Sentenced to Two Weeks’ Jail
Yesterday (1 Sept), Tay was sentenced to two weeks in prison and a S$2,000 fine for his offences.
The 69-year-old pleaded guilty to one count each of using insulting words on a public servant and using criminal force on a public servant.
In mitigation, Tay said he regretted his actions and vowed never to do such a thing again, adding that he suffered a stroke after the incident.
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