Police deny driver in accident using handphone

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JOHOR BAHRU: The police have denied an allegation that the woman who rammed into a group of teenage boys on their bicycles at Jalan Linkaran Dalam near here, early yesterday, was using her mobile phone while driving.

Johor Bahru South police chief ACP Sulaiman Salleh said investigations had been carried out, and there was no truth in the allegation.

“If the survivors did see it (the woman using her handphone), they should come forward to give their statement to the police,” he said when contacted here yesterday.

He was asked to comment on claims by some of the survivors that the 22-year-old woman was using her phone while driving.

According to Sulaiman, the woman, an employee of a fish restaurant in Taman Ungku Aminah, was just returning from a friend’s house in Taman Pelangi when the incident occurred.

One of the injured victims had claimed that the driver of the car involved in the incident was driving fast and seen using a mobile phone.

Muhammad Zulfadli Yusri, 19, said the incident happened too fast but he could clearly see the car, driven by a woman, coming towards his cycling group while they gathered by the roadside.

“My friends and I stopped at the roadside for about 10 minutes. Suddenly, I saw a car coming fast (towards us)…In fact, I really couldn’t do anything or avoid (the car).

“When I came to, I was seated and felt the pain on my limbs,” he told reporters after receiving a visit from Johor Education Department director Shaharudin Sharif at the Sultanah Aminah Hospital here yesterday.

The painter, who sustained fracture on his right leg, said following the impact, he could see some of the victims were lying on the ground, including those who died.

Another survivor, Muhamad Farhan Che Mat, 16, also claimed the car was speeding. The school dropout, who is into cycling activity since the age of 12, said he often joined the group to cycle to Dataran Bandaraya Johor Bahru every Friday.– Bernama