Injured while escorting reckless lorry driver

KLANG: A Road Transport Department (RTD) officer was injured when an irate lorry driver he was escorting drove his overloaded vehicle recklessly before crashing it in Jalan KaparKlang last week.

At about 4pm on Wednesday, three RTD officers on routine patrol flagged down an overloaded tipper lorry laden with gravel.

On pulling over, the lorry driver jumped out of his vehicle and attempted to flee.

When the RTD officers tried to stop him, the driver, in his 30s, put up a fight.

One of the officers suffered minor injuries in the struggle.

It was learnt that two passing police detectives, who saw the commotion, rushed to the scene and this made the lorry driver give himself up.

After taking down the driver’s particulars, an RTD officer ordered him to drive the tipper lorry to the North Klang police station. To ensure the man did not escape, the officer followed the driver in the lorry.

During the journey, the furious suspect drove recklessly despite being ordered to stop by the officer, he then lost control of the lorry causing it to tip over on its side in the middle of the road.

With tonnes of gravel scattered on the ground and traffic coming to a standstill, passing motorists pulled out the officer and the lorry driver out of the vehicle.

Both men suffered serious injuries and were hospitalised.

North Klang police chief ACP Mazelan Paijan, who confirmed the case, said the lorry driver is being investigated for obstructing a civil servant from discharging his duties.