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An underlying medical condition and the stress of being hunted down and restrained likely contributed to the death of a man who was immobilized by members of the public after he was allegedly caught taking photos under his skirts in Little India last year.
An investigation into the death of Mr. Andrew Ho Chee Meng found that the five men who detained him did not use excessive force and there was no basis to suspect a dirty act.
State Coroner Kamala Ponnampalam said Ho was found to have died of hypothyroid cardiomyopathy, a “natural disease process.”
Cardiomyopathy is a disease of the heart muscle that makes it difficult for the heart to pump blood to the rest of the body and can lead to heart failure.
According to the 9/11 findings, Ng Kim Tong had surprised 46-year-old Ho trying to take a photo under the skirt of a woman while he was on an escalator at the Little India MRT station at around 12:40. pm on November 1 of last year.
Mr. Ng chased after Mr. Ho, who tried to escape, and was joined by two others, Mr. Nardozi Thierry and Mr. Rudy Iskandar Khan.
The trio managed to stop Mr. Ho on the sidewalk on nearby Niven Road after a 200-meter chase, and immobilized the man while in a prone position after he struggled and fell.
They clung to Mr. Ho’s limbs and Mr. Nardozi, who had placed his knee on the back of the man’s thighs, took the phone from him, which was later found to contain 47 photos under the skirt.
Two other men, Mr. Leong Cheng Fong and Mr. Racmat Hidayattullah Hasbullah, Mr. Rudy’s brother, also helped restrain Mr. Ho, who at that time had started vomiting.
At approximately 12.55 p.m. M., Police officers arrived and discovered that Mr. Ho was not responding.
Unable to detect his pulse, two officers performed CPR before an ambulance arrived and a paramedic pronounced him dead at the scene.
The forensic pathologist who performed an autopsy on Mr. Ho said he had hypothyroidism, which causes the heart to recover more slowly from one contraction to the next, and Mr. Ho had a history of not taking his medication for this condition.
This, along with the “traumatic and stressful condition” Ho was involved in, may have caused cardiac stress, an irregular heart rhythm and death, the pathologist said.
He had external injuries to his limbs and chest, but state coroner Kamala said they were superficial.
Mr. Ho’s cousin was initially concerned whether Mr. Ho had been assaulted prior to his death, but had no further concerns after the findings.
While the state coroner Kamala praised the efforts to detain Mr. Ho, he noted that the five men did not attempt to reposition or control him despite the fact that they saw that he had vomited.
STILL
They also did not notice or pay attention to the fact that Mr. Ho stopped fighting and remained motionless for about three minutes.
She said: “The witnesses were obviously unaware of the medical risks associated with restraint methods or the need for continuous monitoring as a means of mitigating that risk.
“Public participation in crime prevention efforts is necessary and should be encouraged. However, it may be prudent to promote reporting to the police or seeking police assistance as the preferred and safest option.”
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