Police probe attack on security guards
[video=youtube;wISdS-n67gE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wISdS-n67gE[/video]
Published Feb 29, 2016, 5:00 am SGT
Union lodges report after video showing man hitting two condo officers goes online
Aw Cheng Wei
The union for security workers has lodged a police report in response to a video showing a man attacking two security guards.
The Union of Security Employees made a police report on Saturday, with its president Hareenderpal Singh saying that any form of abuse towards security officers is unacceptable.
In a 39-second video uploaded on the Facebook page of alternative news site All Singapore Stuff, a man in an orange T-shirt is shown speaking briefly to a security guard before abruptly punching the latter with his left fist. He hit the guard three more times before another guard stopped him.
The man then confronted the second guard, slapping him with both hands. The clip ended with the overweight man walking away.
Since it was uploaded on Friday, the video, which was filmed at the main entrance of Kovan Regency, has been viewed more than 103,000 views and shared more than 2,100 times.
The Straits Times understands that the incident happened on Feb 21.
According to the Facebook post, the first victim is believed to be a 62-year-old man who has difficulty walking. "The uncle (is) scared of losing his job... so (he) doesn't want to pursue this case," it added.
In a Facebook post yesterday, Mr Singh said union officers had visited the two affected security officers at their workplace to offer help.
He said: "Despite the security officers declining to speak to the union, we informed the security officers that they can contact the union if they change their minds.
"We will help the victims to the best of our ability."
When The Straits Times visited the Kovan condominium at about 3pm yesterday, a police officer was there talking to the guards and taking photos.
At the Geylang office of the security firm which the guards work for, an employee there declined to comment on the matter, saying his bosses would be in the office today.
Mr Robert Wiener, president of the Association of Certified Security Agencies, said the assault should "never have taken place". He added: "Nobody should get physical... with someone doing his job."
He urged the authorities to grant security officers special protection rights as their job nature is "in conflict with people".
If the penalties for attacking security officers were harsher, the man might have thought twice about hitting the guards, he added.
Netizens said the attacker's actions should be condemned.
Said one user Syed Ali: "I am concerned as we have many... old folk working in security after their retirement."
Police said investigations are ongoing.
