‘We chased him but we did not beat him up’
AMPANG: A group of men who chased a RapidKL bus driver on Thursday have denied that they attacked the man with a katana.
“Yes, four of us chased him but we did not beat him up. In fact, we did not carry any sharp weapons or sticks with us,” Muhammad Azri Mohd Arip, 22, said.
Azri is the owner of a burger stall that was damaged in an accident on Thursday night involving a RapidKL bus along Jalan Enggang near the PKNS flats in Taman Keramat, here.
Recalling the incident, Azri said he had just returned from work when he heard a loud bang.
“I rushed outside and saw a Proton Saga Iswara next to my burger stall, after it was hit by a bus.
“Tables were strewn all over the place and my mother who was carrying my 2-month-old nephew at the time of the incident was wedged between the stall and road divider,” he said.
He said the Proton was turning into the area when the bus hit it.
The driver of the Proton, a resident in the area, started to chase after the bus driver following the incident, according to Azri.
He alleged that the bus driver stopped the vehicle and asked all passengers to alight from the bus.
This was when the Proton driver entered the bus, he claimed, after which the bus driver took off.
“Four of us chased the bus on two bikes. I was angry because the driver left the scene of the accident when we could have settled this matter at the location,” said Azri who chased after the driver despite not putting on his shirt or shoes.
“We did not bring any sharp weapons.
“In fact, the Proton Iswara driver repeatedly asked the bus driver to stop and head for a police station, but he refused.
“When we were chasing him, he put his hand out the window and ‘showed a sign’ challenging us to keep chasing him.”
The chase that took place saw the bus driver ramming into vehicles as he attempted to flee his pursuers.
In a video gone viral, the bus driver later stopped the vehicle and escaped, after which the men chased him on foot.
Azri alleged that when his group finally caught up with the bus driver, he was already beaten up by members of the public.
“We didn’t do anything to him. The allegation that we had beaten him half-dead is false.
“We did not chase him with a katana.
“Only four of us chased him, not a sekampung (an entire village) as alleged. It is true that when the first accident happened, many residents came out to see what happened because they heard a loud bang,” he said.
Azri added that his account to reporters matched his police report.