When a motorvan driver was stopped by the police at a roadblock along Whitley Road for a breathalyser test on Sep. 21, 2023, he responded with "Sorry ah" before fleeing the scene.

As a result, Jermain Lim Jing Jie, a 26-year-old Singaporean, was chased by at least five traffic police motorcycles and a police car, according to a video circulating on social media.

Despite scraping the side of a motorcar while trying to evade police pursuits, Lim continued speeding before he eventually mounted a left kerb at the slip road of Farrer Road and crashed into a lamppost.

Lim was subsequently arrested and underwent a Breath Analysing Device test, which revealed that there were 36mcg of alcohol in every 100ml of his breath.

The prescribed limit is 35mcg of alcohol per 100ml of breath.

Fled from breath test

According to court documents seen by Mothership, Lim was driving his motorvan at around 1:23am on Sep. 21, 2023, when he encountered the roadblock, which was set up to conduct breathalyser tests on passing drivers.

A barrier was also erected at the roadblock to stop vehicles from proceeding until they were permitted to proceed.

After a police officer manning the roadblock signalled for Lim to stop when he approached it, Lim complied, made a stop, and wound down the window.

However, just as the officer asked Lim to speak into the handheld breathalyser to conduct a "breath test", Lim said, "Sorry ah," before accelerating and speeding past the barrier erected at the roadblock, fleeing the scene.

At that time, Lim was not permitted to proceed by any police officer.

'Drove dangerously in many ways'

After Lim sped off from the roadblock, police officers began pursuing him.

To evade police pursuit, Lim sped towards the Pan-Island Expressway (PIE), and after he had exited the expressway, he drove into Adam Road, towards the direction of Farrer Road, and past the Farrer Flyover.

His driving speed was recorded as 140km per hour along Fareer Road along Queensway when the speed limit for the stretch of road was 60km to 70km per hour.

While on the run, Lim "drove dangerously in many ways", including driving across a chevron road divider while exiting PIE, weaving in and out of traffic, and overtaking numerous cars.

He also called upon another man while he was driving and told the latter he had run from traffic police in Mandarin.

In response, the other man asked Lim why he had done so, and Lim said that he had "already run" and had "already run [like] siao (crazy)" in Mandarin.

Scraped another vehicle

When Lim was driving along the Farrer Flyover, his vehicle scraped the side of a motorcar.

Despite the collision, Lim did not stop to render any assistance to the motorcar or provide his details to its driver.

Instead, he continued speeding while fleeing from pursuing police officers.

Crashed into lamppost, motorvan overturned

Lim was eventually arrested after he negotiated a left bend at the slip road of Farrer Road into Holland Road, where he mounted the left kerb and crashed into a lamppost.

As a result, the lamppost was uprooted, and his motorvan was overturned.

At around 3:52am, he underwent a Breath Analysing Device test, which revealed the proportion of alcohol in his breath was higher than the prescribed limit.

Lim subsequently admitted to having consumed at least seven "short glasses of beer" with an acquaintance after 9pm on Sep. 20, 2023, before he proceeded to attempt to drive home.

Prior to his arrest, Lim had fled for approximately five minutes, spanning 4.5km, reported Shin Min Daily News.

14 weeks jail, S$2,000 fine, driver license revoked for 40 months

On Jun. 19, Lim pleaded guilty to three charges, which relate to dangerous driving, drink driving, and contravening the Police Force Act. Two other charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.

The prosecution highlighted "the potential harm that could have been eventuated" by Lim's behaviour and emphasised "the need for general deterrence".

According to Shin Min, Lim was eventually sentenced to 14 weeks in jail, fined S$2,000 and disqualified from holding all classes of driving licences for 40 months.

Top images via court documents