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SINGAPORE – A girl who died in January in a multi-story parking lot was riding her friend’s fixed gear bike down a slope in the building, police investigations revealed.
These bikes generally do not have a handbrake.
The 13-year-old had started learning to ride a bike only when she was in 6th grade and was still a novice at cycling, the state coroner was told Thursday (Sept. 3) during an investigation into her death.
The girl was found immobile on the ground floor of the multi-story parking lot at Blk 526A Pasir Ris Street 51 on the afternoon of January 8. Paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene.
The Chinese language newspaper Shin Min Daily News reported that a domestic worker, who saw the girl lying at the foot of the building after hearing a loud noise, called the Singapore Civil Defense Force and the police.
Investigations showed that the girl and her classmates had gone to the parking lot after school on the day of the incident, Assistant Police Superintendent Gabriel Goh told the court.
He watched his friends ride fixed gear bikes on the sixth and seventh levels of the multi-story parking lot and then tried to do it too, he said.
Investigations revealed that a friend initially accompanied the girl on foot while she was cycling, ASP Goh said.
The friend said the girl had trouble controlling the bike when she got on it for the first time, he added.
ASP Goh also said that the friend was unable to keep up after the girl began pedaling down the ramp from the seventh to sixth level of the building.
While the friend asked the girl to turn right, she continued to advance directly toward the metal railing at the side of the parking lot and collided with her, he said.
The court was told that she was thrown out of the building, but held onto the railing “momentarily.”
However, he was unable to maintain his grip and fell to the ground, ASP Goh said.
He said the girl suffered multiple injuries, including fractures to her skull and ribs.
An autopsy revealed that his injuries matched those resulting from a fall from a height, ASP Goh said.
The investigation is expected to continue later this month.
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