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The appearance of agents from the Emergency Response Team (ERT) armed with weapons certainly caused quite a stir in Bedok over the weekend.
The reason for its deployment? A lonely man who went crazy and yelled at passersby.
The 39-year-old man was arrested on Heartbeat @ Bedok on Saturday afternoon (October 17) under the Mental Health Act, police confirmed.
ERT agents deployed after police received a call for assistance regarding the man, who was suspected of having a dangerous weapon.
But a physical search for the man, who was not identified, yielded no weapons, police said.
The man had started screaming and running around Block 205 Bedok North Street 1, eyewitnesses told Lianhe Wanbao.
He was “very upset,” said a witness in Mandarin.
“He even ran up to me and stared at me and asked, ‘Why are you pointing it?’ I was very taken aback and had a great scare. “
The man then took off for the Bedok Bus Interchange, where he continued screaming for at least 15 minutes.
His next stop was Heartbeat @ Bedok, where he was arrested after a member of the public called the police.
Images of the man’s arrest were shared online, showing multiple police officers pinning the shirtless man against a wall.
The man took off his shirt in protest as officers tried to detain him, another witness told the Chinese newspaper, adding that the man struggled as he was led to the police car and kept trying to shake the officers.
There were no injuries in connection with the incident, police said.
This was not reportedly the first time the man caused a commotion, several workers in the area claimed.
One, an employee of a mobile phone store, alleged that the man had sworn at the staff of a nearby fast food store just two days ago.
According to a cafeteria employee, the man also scolded and cursed them without provocation.
