Drink-driving S'pore man, 44, who rammed into officer at Tuas Checkpoint gets 3 years & 6 months' jail

After drinking for close to seven hours, a 44-year-old Singaporean man decided to drive back from town to his home in Yishun, but ended up speeding along a road at Tuas Checkpoint instead.

Yoong Kok Kai lost control of his Lexus while speeding around a bend, mounted the kerb of a divider and collided with a Certis auxiliary police officer on duty.

The male officer suffered severe injuries in the accident in March 2023 and is now in a vegetative state.

The accident also caused S$37,292 in property damages.

Yoong was sentenced to three years and six months’ jail on Mar. 17, according to The Straits Times.

He will also be barred from holding all classes of driving licences for 10 years after his release.

Drank for 7 hours

Court documents indicated that Yoong started drinking alcohol at about 5pm on Mar. 23, 2023.

He ordered three pints of beer with a co-worker during happy hour at a restaurant in Bugis, and they shared the drinks.

At about 6:15pm, Yoong drove to another restaurant at South Bridge Road to meet his property agent and drank about one-third of a 500ml bottle of whiskey.

At about 10pm, Yoong walked to a KTV pub nearby and drank with one of the waitresses there.

They shared a three-litre tower of beer and an alcoholic "Ladies' Drink" priced at S$200.

Yoong left at about 11:42pm and despite being drunk, decided to drive back home to Yishun.

Lost control while speeding near Tuas Checkpoint

Yoong ended up travelling along the Ayer Rajah Expressway (AYE) towards Jurong instead.

At about 12:36am on Mar. 24, speed cameras caught Yoong's car going at 134km/h on the AYE, exceeding the speed limit of 90km/h.

10 minutes later, Yoong was seen on camera speeding along a viaduct at Tuas Checkpoint at an estimated 100 km/h to 119 km/h.

This was at least double the speed limit of the road, which is 50 km/h.

As Yoong sped around a bend in the road, he lost control of his car, veering right and speeding through two safety humps.

He then approached a fork that separated the viaduct from a slip road on the right.

Noticing Yoong's speeding car, the victim tried to get out of the way by running onto a divider between the two roads.

He took shelter behind a safety bollard and safety gantry there.

Collided with officer on duty

However, Yoong's car mounted the kerb of the divider and collided with the victim, who was flung from the impact and landed face first.

Other structures like a safety bollard, a safety gantry, a safety barrier and a traffic light were uprooted from the collision.

Police subsequently arrived at the scene and arrested Yoong for driving under the influence of alcohol.

Both Yoong and the victim were brought to National University Hospital for medical treatment.

The victim was found to have suffered extensive injuries from the accident, including severe traumatic brain injury with bleeding in the brain, and multiple facial fractures.

He subsequently underwent 12 operations over the next three months from March to June 2023.

Prosecutors said the 30-year-old victim has been left in a vegetative state, and is now bed-bound and non-communicative.

The victim will need assistance for all activities of daily living and will never hold a job again.

He has to be fed via a tube to his nose.

In total, the victim's medical bills have reached over S$455,000 as of Jan. 30, 2025.

More than S$10,500 has to be paid out of his pocket, and more than S$5,000 from his Medisave account.

Drove while drunk for 27km

Court documents indicated there was no mechanical fault with Yoong's car at the time of the incident.

A blood sample taken from Yoong after the accident was found to contain 153 mg of alcohol in every 100 ml of blood, almost double the legal limit in Singapore of 80 mg of alcohol in 100 ml of blood.

Yoong was found to have driven while intoxicated for about 27 km.

The structures damaged by Yoong's car have also incurred repair costs of S$37,292.

Yoong has not made any restitution thus far.

Ruined the lives of a young man and his family: Prosecution

In their submissions, the prosecution asked for a sentence of four years' jail, a S$10,000 fine and disqualification from driving all vehicles for 10 years for Yoong.

They argued that Yoong ruined the lives of a young man and his family by his "senselessly reckless actions".

The prosecution pointed out that Yoong "voluntarily consumed copious amounts of alcohol throughout the night", but decided to drive while drunk, and also sped around a bend at nearly double the speed limit at Tuas Checkpoint.

The prosecution added that as a result of Yoong's actions, the victim was left in a state that "effectively deprives him of any qualitative semblance of a life".

"He cannot walk, he cannot talk, he cannot take care of himself, and he cannot work to support himself ever again. Till he dies, he will require care and assistance in all aspects of his daily living," wrote the prosecution.

Yoong pleaded guilty to causing grievous hurt by dangerous driving and driving under the influence, ST reported.

Another charge of speeding along the AYE on the same night was taken into consideration.

Yoong was sentenced to three years and six months’ jail on Mar. 17.

Top image from Shin Min Daily News & Iphone Murah Johor/Facebook