No foul play suspected in death of knife-wielding man shot by police officer in 2022

SINGAPORE – While under the influence of drugs, a 64-year-old man brandished a kitchen knife at the doorway of his home despite being confronted by four police officers.

After three attempts to incapacitate Ng Eng Kui with Taser shots failed, he stepped out to face the four officers in a narrow corridor

at Block 33 Bendemeer Road in March 2022.

Assessing himself and his three colleagues to be in imminent danger, an officer fired a single round from his pistol, hitting Ng in the chest.

The officers involved in the case cannot be named due to a court-imposed gag order.

In a coroner’s inquiry into Ng’s death on Nov 4, District Judge Kamala Ponnampalam ruled that the officer had not errantly discharged his firearm, adding that Ng’s death was an unfortunate misadventure.

She said there is no basis to suspect any foul play in the discharge of the single round.

Footage pieced together through police and body-worn cameras was played in court on Nov 4, showing Ng to be agitated, aggressive and non-compliant at the time of the incident.

The judge pointed out that it became increasingly clear that Ng was not going to surrender peacefully as he continued to advance towards the officers despite multiple warnings to drop his knife.

A toxicology report conducted after Ng’s death found he had Class A controlled drugs such as methamphetamine and amphetamine in his blood.

Deputy Superintendent Desmond Ng, the investigating officer of the incident, testified that Ng had previously been diagnosed with substance abuse psychotic disorder.

He said Ng also suffered from poly-substance and alcohol use disorder, and was under investigation by the police and Central Narcotics Bureau at the time of his death.

The court heard that on March 23, 2022, the police received several calls from the public about Ng walking around the estate with a knife.

Police camera footage shows Ng entering and exiting the lift several times, and walking up and down the stairs at the block.

Footage from body-worn cameras of the four officers who responded to the incident shows the officers approaching Ng’s sixth-floor unit at 4.18pm. Both the metal gate and wooden door were left open.

Ng appeared in the living room, still brandishing his knife, after the officers called out to him. Footage shows that the first Taser was deployed at 4.19pm after Ng shouted incoherently and gestured with his knife at the officers.

DSP Ng said data retrieved from the Taser shows the probes made only an intermittent connection of about 1.5 seconds, which was insufficient to incapacitate him.

The second and third Taser shots were fired in quick succession at Ng, but both failed to connect as there was zero electrical connection, extracted data shows.

At this point, Ng exited his unit to the 1.5m-wide corridor to face the four officers.

At 4.19pm, one of them fired a round from his pistol at Ng, who was seen crouching on the floor before slumping face down.

DSP Ng said the officers performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Ng before paramedics arrived around 4.36pm.

He was taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital but remained in a state of cardiac arrest. Ng was pronounced dead at 5.13pm. The cause of death was a bullet wound to the left side of his chest.