Cops probe 3 police reports on balloon vendor altercation

Summary

• Police have received three reports regarding an altercation between a balloon vendor and DBKL enforcement officers.

• KL deputy police chief urges public not to speculate on the case, and for those with information to come forward.

Police are investigating three reports related to an altercation between a street vendor and Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) enforcers, including allegations of obstruction, threats, and causing grievous injury.

In the meantime, Kuala Lumpur deputy police chief Azry Akmar Ayob urged members of the public not to speculate on the case to avoid interfering with investigations.

In a statement today, he said the first police report was lodged by a DBKL enforcement officer at 11.48am yesterday, and an investigation was opened under Section 186 of the Penal Code for obstructing a public officer’s duties.

At 3.34pm that day, another DBKL enforcement officer lodged another police report about his pictures being circulated on Facebook, along with threats being made.

The case is being investigated under Section 505(b) of the Penal Code for statements conducing to public mischief, and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 for abuse of network facilities.

The third police report was lodged by the vendor’s mother at 12.04am this morning.

The mother’s police report stated that the victim, Za’imuddin Azlan, was injured in an altercation and was being treated at a government hospital in Serdang. This case was being investigated under Section 325 of the Penal Code for voluntarily causing grievous hurt.

Azry urged members of the public with information on the case to contact the Kuala Lumpur police hotline at 03-21159999 or approach any nearby police station.

Placed on leave

Earlier today, the DBKL said it has placed three of its officers involved in the incident on leave.

It claimed yesterday that the patrol encountered the vendor at Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman and issued a warning against the unlicensed vendor.

It said the seller refused to comply and continued to sell his wares despite two verbal warnings, became aggressive, and shoved an enforcement officer upon the third warning.

“To prevent the situation from escalating further and avoid a more serious incident, plainclothes enforcement officers acted quickly and prevented (stopped) the vendor’s continued assault against the officer,” it said.

The incident has sparked widespread criticism of DBKL’s handling of the situation.

Za’imuddin, who claims to have suffered bone fractures, has denied that he had been evicted by DBKL multiple times before.

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