POLICE have arrested a 19-year-old Vietnamese woman who climbed
on top of a taxi and jumped on its roof, while screaming and
kicking its advertisement board, for almost an hour yesterday.
Residents of an HDB block overlooking Hougang Avenue 9 said they
awoke to the bizarre scene outside their windows, which took place
at about 8am.
'I woke up to what I thought was noise from some construction,
but I looked down to see this young woman stomping on the top of a
taxi. She seemed hysterical,' said an eyewitness who lives on the
10th floor of the block, who gave his name only as Mr
Letchumanan.
Police said they received a call at 8.45am yesterday, and
arrived to find the woman still on top of the CityCab taxi. She was
arrested for disorderly behaviour. The cabby did not want to be
interviewed, but said in his statement to the police that the woman
had flagged down his taxi and then climbed on top of it when he
stopped his vehicle.
Eyewitnesses said the woman was screaming in Mandarin but they
could not make out what she was saying. She was seen jumping on the
cab's roof and kicking its advertisement signboard until it
broke.
Mrs Joanna Ho, 33, who watched the incident from her flat on the
block's 15th floor, said the woman climbed down at one point and
quarrelled with the taxi driver. She then lay down in the middle of
the road, causing a traffic build-up, and chased after a car before
climbing on top of the taxi again.
--ST