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A man seen fighting with three other men in a viral video claimed he was acting in self-defense to protect his wife.
Although outnumbered, the burly man, who has grayish-white hair, was more than a match for his three opponents and at one point knocked out one of them with a right hook.
The incident occurred in the Golden Mile Tower parking lot last Wednesday night.
The one-minute clip, which was filmed with a phone camera from a stationary vehicle, was posted on SG Road Vigilante’s Facebook page and has since garnered more than 4,500 shares and 600 comments.
It begins with the man, wearing a gray T-shirt, beige shorts, and a mask, and his wife confronting three men, one of whom aggressively yells, “Lai!” (“Come” in Hokkien).
The husband pushes the aggressive man who is too close for comfort, causing him to stumble backward. As he regains his balance and moves forward, a punch makes him stagger.
Then the husband fights with the other two men and pushes them down while the camera cuts out for a few seconds.
When the two men walk away, the first man returns for the second round, but the husband avoids or blocks their punches before launching his knockout punch.
Then he pushes another man and advances towards the other while shouting at Hokkien: “You are not coming looking for trouble.” But his wife steps in to end the fight.
[[nid:508767]]In an interview with the Chinese-language daily Lianhe Zaobao, the husband, who declined to be named, said the video was not an accurate description of what happened.
Giving his version of events, he said that he was defending himself and his wife from the provocations of the three men.
“My wife and I were about to go home when two men approached us provocatively. They appeared to be drunk. His friend arrived shortly after in a Porsche and joined them in teasing us.”
He said the men, who appeared to be in their 30s, surrounded him and yelled at him.
His wife then got out of the car to try to mediate, but one of the men turned on her.
“He pushed my wife and the other hit me on the shoulder. I wanted to prevent my wife from being hurt and protect myself, so I fought in self-defense.”
In his knockout punch, the man said his opponent was not as badly injured as he appeared in the video or as speculated online.
“He got up after less than five minutes. Then they left quickly,” he added.
He said the Porsche created a parking lot jam by obstructing traffic. When the fight was over, he told them to move the car.
“Some drivers whose cars were stuck in the traffic left me their identification cards and said they could testify if necessary,” the man told Zaobao.
Netizens were divided over who was to blame, with some saying that the husband was to blame for throwing the first hit, while others felt he had the right to act in self-defense.
“If there’s a serious injury, that old man is in trouble. He’s the one who started the assault,” Ivan Yan said on the SG Road Vigilante Facebook page.
But Sg Gaz argued: “The guy is defending himself against the three bullies. They got into a fight with him.”
Police said a report has been made and investigations are ongoing.
This article was first published in The New Paper. Permission is required for reproduction.
