{"id":39213,"date":"2026-03-25T19:50:36","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T11:50:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=39213"},"modified":"2026-03-25T19:50:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T11:50:36","slug":"jail-for-man-who-accelerated-car-during-fuel-gauge-check-and-dragged-ica-officer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=39213","title":{"rendered":"Jail for man who accelerated car during fuel gauge check and dragged ICA officer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">SINGAPORE \u2013 A motorist deliberately stepped on the accelerator while an Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officer was conducting a fuel gauge inspection on his car at the Woodlands Checkpoint.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">At<!-- --> least one of the officer\u2019s hands was still inside the vehicle<a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/courts-crime\/motorist-charged-after-his-car-allegedly-dragged-ica-officer-at-woodlands-checkpoint?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\"><span class=\"font-body-baseline-regular inline\" data-testid=\"paragraph-test-id\"> when Steve Ling Wei Liang drove away.<\/span><\/a> <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Court documents stated that the fuel gauge of Ling\u2019s car was \u201cbelow the level mandated by law\u201d, and he hit the gas after realising the officer would not allow him to travel <!-- -->to<!-- --> Malaysia. <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The victim instinctively <!-- -->grabbed<!-- --> the steering wheel when the car accelerated sharply. The vehicle dragged him, and he suffered injuries including a bruised right knee.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Following a trial, Ling, 40, was sentenced to eight months and three weeks\u2019 jail on March 25.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">District Judge Vince Gui had earlier convicted the Singaporean of causing hurt to the victim by performing a rash act.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Ling<!-- --> drove his car to the Woodlands Checkpoint shortly after 3pm on Dec 12, 2023, as he wanted to go to Johor Bahru to pick up a friend.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">He headed towards a secondary clearance spot after he cleared customs and had his passport checked.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">He then spotted ICA officers, including the victim, conducting fuel gauge operations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Deputy Public Prosecutor Quek Lu Yi said: \u201cTo check the car\u2019s fuel gauge, the victim leaned forward on the door and stuck his head, hands, shoulders and upper chest into the car through an open window.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cThe victim then informed the accused that his fuel gauge level was below three-quarters of a tank, and asked the accused to hand over his passport and to stop the car.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">However, Ling failed to comply with the officer\u2019s instructions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Instead, he tried to negotiate with the officer, asking the latter to give him a chance as he \u201ccould not go to court\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Ling inched the car forward while talking the victim, the court heard.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">DPP Quek said that was because his \u201cmain preoccupation\u201d was to go to Malaysia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The officer then repeatedly told him to stop the vehicle. Ling initially complied, only to step on the accelerator moments later.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The prosecutor added: \u201cWhen the accused stepped on the accelerator, at least one of the victim\u2019s hands (was) inside the car and the victim was standing right next to (it).<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cThe accused drove the car from its initial position before coming to a stop about four parking lots away. There was a pedestrian&#8230; who took evasive action as the car swerved towards him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Ling was escorted to a holding area and was arrested at around 5pm that day.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The victim was taken to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">During the trial, the victim said that his head, shoulders, upper chest and hands were inside Ling\u2019s car.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">He had earlier told a doctor that he was \u201cpulled along for about 4m\u201d while he was \u201chalf inside the vehicle\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Ling, who was not represented by a lawyer, claimed that he did not intend to hurt the officer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">According to Ling, he had expected the victim to let go of the car, and that only the latter\u2019s hands were inside the vehicle when it accelerated.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">In response to this, the DPP said: \u201cThese assertions do not detract from the accused\u2019s deliberate decision to accelerate the car in the face of an obvious risk to life and limb and the hurt that ensued.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Ling\u2019s bail was set at $20,000 on March 25, and he is expected to surrender himself at the State Courts on May 8 to begin serving his sentence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/courts-crime\/jail-for-man-who-accelerated-car-and-dragged-ica-officer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SINGAPORE \u2013 A motorist deliberately stepped on the accelerator while an Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officer was conducting a fuel gauge inspection on his&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39214,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39213\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/39214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}