LTA suspends enforcement officer who fought with Uber driver

PHOTO: SCREENGRAB FROM FACEBOOK

SINGAPORE - The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has suspended an enforcement officer who was caught on video fighting with another man, who was said to be an Uber driver.

The netizen who on Friday (Nov 27) night shared the video on Facebook said she had earlier on Friday called for an Uber car to pick her up at the Bugis Junction taxi stand, along Victoria Street. However, she did not know that only taxis were allowed at the taxi stand, and noticed an LTA officer scolding and chasing cars away.

She claimed that when her Uber ride arrived, the officer started to scold the driver in a rude way. The driver provided his details to the officer, but the officer "threw the first punch and proceeded to kick" the driver.

A bystander was seen trying to stop the scuffle.

In the Facebook post, she said the Uber driver insisted on sending her to her destination even though he was injured. The post has since been removed.

LTA said in a Facebook post at about 1am on Saturday (Nov 28) that it is taking a serious view of the incident and will not condone any acts of violence by their officers or outsourced officers.

The officer has been suspended from all duties with immediate effect pending further investigations.

A Certis Cisco spokesman clarified that the officer involved in the incident is not their employee. The security firm's contractual agreement with LTA ended in Oct 2015.

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