No foul play involved in Traffic Police officer's fatal accident in Little India: State Coroner
The death of a Traffic Police officer in Little India last June was a tragic accident with no suspected foul play involved.
The late Staff Sergeant Nadzrie Matin, then 29, was on traffic patrol duty on 1 June 2017 when his motorcycle hit a van that was changing lanes along Serangoon Road in Little India, said State Coroner Kamala Ponnampalam on Thursday (26 April). The accident took place at around 10.40am.
Footage from police cameras on roadside lamp posts showed that Nadzrie had overtaken a stationary bus and followed the van, which was on the second lane from the left, for a short distance before changing to the extreme left lane.
Road conditions were dry and visibility was clear. The van’s signal light was on, indicating the driver’s intent to change lanes.
The van’s driver, then 52, said that he had looked left and found the extreme left lane to be clear but had not looked again immediately before changing lanes. Shortly after, the driver heard a horn and felt an impact. He then came to a stop.
Nadzrie continued to surge forward on his motorcycle, off the road and onto an open field. This left a trail of debris stretching over 16m to the middle of the field, where Nadzrie was found unconscious.
He was taken by ambulance to Tan Tock Seng Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 11.31am. Autopsy reports show that he died of multiple injuries and was not under any medication at the time.
Nadzrie, who left behind a wife, was accorded a ceremonial police burial last June as he had died in the line of duty. Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam, who attended the funeral, described the late officer as a “true Singapore son” and called his death was a “tremendous loss”.