Police car crashes, hits two after attack by protestors

By Clara Chooi

April 28, 2012

People gather around the police car which crashed and was overturned by protestors. — Picture by Choo Choy May

KUALA LUMPUR, April 28 — A police car crashed trying to flee angry protestors but then crashed into at least two people.

Two police patrol cars had stopped at the traffic lights on Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman near Pertama Complex. 

A male protestor then leapt on the bonnet of one car while surrounding protestors threw stones and water bottles at the vehicle, causing the windscreen to shatter.

When the lights turned green, the driver accelerated but skidded out on control and crashed on the sidewalk outside Sogo shopping complex and hit at least two people, injuring them.

The angry crowd then surrounded the policemen but volunteers from PKR’s Jingga 13 formed a human shield around the officers, saying “don’t blame them, it’s not their fault.”

Police and Jingga 13 chief Fariz Musa then asked the crowd to disperse but they refused.

After an ambulance took away the injured policemen, the protestors turned the car over on its side but then fled after tear gas was fired.

Police also claimed that one of the protestors stole a police firearm.

“A police pistol was stolen by a participant of the gathering in front of Sogo. The public is advised to be on guard for any eventuality,” the force said on micro-blogging site Twitter.

However, Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said on micro-blogging site Twitter the weapon was recovered and the two policemen in the car are receiving treatment in hospital.