Personnel who struck senior citizen didn’t do it intentionally: MBPJ

KUALA LUMPUR – No legal action was taken against a Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) personnel who allegedly struck 69-year-old Patrick Khoo during a dog catching operation, as it was unintentional.

In a statement to the New Straits Times, MBPJ stated that the incident occurred while the officer was in the midst of carrying out his duties.

Following the incident, MBPJ said they will reassess operational security and transparency to ensure the safety of its personnel as well as the public.

“This also includes ways to identify the level of risk in the operation to determine the methods that will be implemented.

“Low-risk operations will require the use of body cameras by staff involved. Images during the operation will be taken by senior staff. High-risk operations will be carried out together with police.

“To ensure transparency during the dog-catching process, MBPJ will invite NGOs and resident associations to join its operations,” said the statement as quoted by New Straits Times.

It was previously reported that a resident who witnessed the incident at Taman Kanagapuram had taken to social media to pan the enforcement officers for their alleged heavy-handedness, with videos of the incident sparking outrage among netizens and rights groups.

MBPJ had also announced that an internal investigation committee had been set up to probe into the incident.

Following the incident, Khoo was charged under Section 186 of the Penal Code for obstructing public servants in the discharge of their functions.

The charge stated that Khoo was accused of deliberately hindering the officer, Azizul Azzim Norehan, from performing his job during the incident on March 22.

If found guilty, Khoo faces a jail term of up to two years, a maximum fine of RM10,000, or both.

New video, supposedly ‘same guy’?

In a separate incident, another video of an MBPJ personnel being purportedly rude to private citizens was shared on social media today.

In the video, the MBPJ personnel was seen taunting the person to take a video of him while another personnel had goaded them to take his picture.

The video titled “Same MBPJ guy - this was 10th Feb” was shared on Facebook and had garnered over 80,000 views.

However, it was unclear whether the personnel in this incident were of the same group involved in the Taman Kanagapuram operation on March 22. – The Vibes, April 11, 2023