A Singapore-Johore Express coach ran over an elderly woman at the Woodlands Checkpoint. She had reportedly fallen when the bus allegedly started driving while she was alighting the vehicle.
Apparently, the bus ran over her leg, and the movement ended up dragging her body into the bottom of the vehicle.
As a result, the woman suffered multiple fractures on the lower half of her body. She appeared in court on Monday (21 Aug) morning to testify in a wheelchair.
The 44-year-old driver of the coach faces a charge of negligence resulting in injury, to which he pleaded not guilty.
According to Shin Min Daily News, the incident happened on 24 June 2019, at 10.44am.
It took place at the alighting berth of Woodlands Checkpoint.
The charge sheet showed that the negligence of the 44-year-old driver caused the 75-year-old female passenger to fall off the bus.
When she hit the ground, the rear wheel of the bus ran over her leg, causing multiple fractures to her lower body.
On Monday (21 Aug), the woman testified in court sitting in a wheelchair. She said that, on the day of the incident, she took the Singapore-Johore Express coach from Rochor Road with her niece and granddaughter.
For illustration purposes only
Source: Land Transport Guru
When the coach reached Woodlands Checkpoints, her niece carried her granddaughter off the bus first.
The elderly woman stayed behind for a short while to wait for other passengers to alight first.
Later, she exited the bus via its rear door. She was holding onto the handrail as she stepped out of the coach.
However, the bus reportedly started moving before her foot could even touch the ground.
The woman fell out of the vehicle, and yelled in pain as she felt the wheel run over her leg.
At first, the driver did not notice that the woman had fallen. It was only when an auxiliary police officer banged on the front door of the bus to get him to stop that the driver realised what had happened.
The auxiliary police officer then pulled the woman out from the bottom of the coach and comforted her.
That was all the 75-year-old woman could remember of the incident.
However, the driver claimed that woman had already disembarked when he started driving, said his defence lawyer.
The 44-year-old driver argued that he had checked through the rearview mirror that everyone had disembarked. He then closed all the doors before driving off.
As such, the defence claimed that the woman probably fell on her own after she got off the bus.
In response, the woman insisted that the bus started moving before her foot touched the ground, and it was because of that she had fallen.
She added that, during that time, she was still able to walk and both her legs were fine. On top of that, she did not have a medical history of pre-existing conditions.
Court proceedings for this case are still ongoing.
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Featured image adapted from Land Transport Guru.
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