Restaurant owner arrested for criminal intimidation after threatening road worker with hammer

They were just doing their jobs.

A restaurant owner was arrested for criminal intimidation after a confrontation with two road workers outside his restaurant at 17 Tampines Avenue.

The owner of Beng Poh Eating House was caught on video pushing one of the workers before picking up a hammer from the ground.

Stomper James, who shared the two-minute video, said that the owner "threatened to smash the worker's head in with the hammer".

In response to a Stomp query, the police said they received a call for assistance at the location on Tuesday (Jan 17) at 4.33pm.

"A 64-year-old man was arrested for criminal intimidation," said police, who added that investigations are ongoing.

The Stomper said: "The owner was so abusive to the poor worker who was just carrying out his job as instructed by the MCST."

MCST stands for Management Corporation Strata Title, which is constituted when the strata title plan for the development is lodged with the Chief Surveyor and a strata title application made to the Registrar of Titles, Singapore Land Authority.

In the video, a woman can also be seen arguing with the workers. After the owner picked up the hammer, she separated him from the worker and took the hammer from the owner. She later threw the hammer away.

Four other men went forward but did not do much as the argument became more heated and the owner hit the worker's shoulder with his hand.

When the owner raised his fist at the worker, the woman once again stepped in to separate the two. The owner and the woman eventually walked away from the group of men and the video ends.

What led to the confrontation?

The Stomper explained: "There is MRT works in the area. As a result, the Government has rerouted certain roads.

"The Beng Poh Eating House owner insisted on placing his tables and chairs outside on MCST land despite a writ of possession by state courts.

"So MCST took action yesterday and removed his tables and chairs from the carpark and blocked him with concrete blocks."

That was the trigger, according to the Stomper.