A year ago, 90-year-old Ting Lang Kin had to have her left foot amputated after a gruesome accident at Woodlands Centre Road saw that foot crushed by an SMRT bendy bus. Images of her gored feet — ripped into shreds of blood, flesh and bone — went viral on social media.
What made it more tragic was that the accident transpired when the bus driver drove off as she was still alighting the bus.
53-year-old former SMRT bus driver Lau Pik Choong has since been slapped with a week in jail and a driving ban of 18 months for his negligence, according to various media reports.
In court, the sequence of events on Apr 3 2015 was revealed. Lau stopped his bus at the stop along Woodlands Centre Road, where Ting wanted to alight. However, as the elderly woman walked slowly to the exit doors, Lau closed them before she could do so.
A passenger alerted the driver by pressing the buzzer, and Lau reopened the doors. Ting was only halfway out of the bus with one foot still on the bus when Lau drove off with the rear door still open.
Ting fell to the ground and her left leg was run over by the bus’ rear left wheel. As the leg was trapped, Lau had to reverse the bus slowly to free it.
Lau faced his charges and sentences without a lawyer, pleading for another chance, expressing his distress over causing the accident. He has since been suspended from all driving duties.
Ting remains traumatised from the incident, and is struggling to come to terms with the loss of mobility and independence, having led an active lifestyle previously. “I feel very helpless since I can no longer go anywhere myself,” she said to The New Paper.
