Drink driver who kicked, scratched police officers to resist arrest fined $10,500

Lee Hwei Ting Joyce, 44, was fined $10,500 for causing accident and using criminal force to a public servant at the accident scene. -- ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW
Lee Hwei Ting Joyce, 44, was fined $10,500 for causing accident and using criminal force to a public servant at the accident scene. -- ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW

A drink driver who scratched and kicked three police officers when they tried to arrest her was on Wednesday fined $10,500 in a district court.

Joyce Lee Hwei Ting, 44, was also banned from driving for 20 months after being caught with not less than 48 mcg of alcohol in every 100 ml of her breath.

She was driving home on the evening of May 8 last year after having some drinks when her car rolled backwards across four lanes of the Central Expressway and collided into another car. Followed by the other driver, she drove back across the four lanes of the expressway and stopped on the road shoulder.

Police eventually arrived on the scene and decided to arrest Lee after she failed a breathalyzer test. But she resisted violently and continued to scream and struggle after being handcuffed. When the officers tried to place her into a police car, she refused to put her legs in - scratching a female officer who tried to use her hands to lift Lee's legs into the car, then kicking her several times in the stomach and leg when she tried to push her in. The officer suffered bruises and a back sprain. Lee also kicked two other officers during the incident.

Lee, who is married with three children, could have been fined between $1,000 and $5,000 and jailed six months for drink driving. For using criminal force on a public servant, she could have been jailed four years and fined.

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