Facebook user who offered $30k 'bounty' for Grab driver and police, $400k for lawyer apologises

A man who placed a bounty between $10,000 and $30,000 on police officers and a Grab driver after a dispute at Emerald Hill on Sunday morning (April 15), has issued an apology to the parties involved. 

Apparently, the incident started when the Grab driver refused to pick up the man and his girlfriend, whom he identified as Praise, citing that she was drunk and could vomit in his vehicle. 

Here’s the sequence of events that happened according to the man’s description:

  • The man and Praise boarded the private-hire car, but the driver refused to pick them up. 

  • He then threw a $1,000 note at the driver’s face, telling him that he would pay him ’50 times’ the fare if she vomited.

  • The driver allegedly started insulting Praise with ‘sexist’ comments.

  • The man then challenged the driver to a fight. 

  • The driver called Grab to complain about the man and his girlfriend.

  • Meanwhile, the man called the police. 

  • Officers arrived at the scene and the man claimed that they sided with the driver until he spoke to them, upon which the investigating officer (IO) took his side.

  • He claimed that an officer then told him to ‘shut up and listen’ to him as he was an officer, while the man was a civilian.

  • The comment angered the man who then hurled insults at the officer adding that the only reason why he was in the police was due to his Institute of Technical Education (ITE) background.

  • He also said that the officer was ‘unless and unable to contribute to society'. 

  • After that, the man then told the officer and the driver that he was half their age, but earned at least 25 times their salary, and was more well connected that they knew. 

  • The man issued an ultimatum, demanding that the officer and driver apologised to him and Praise. 

  • The driver then allegedly apologised, but the officer did not.

  • However, the man found the driver’s apology to Praise lacking sincerity and ‘super sarcastic’ which made him even angrier, as he had given them both ‘eight chances to apologise’, and spent two hours ‘explaining sh**’ to them.

  • He cited that he lost $70,000 as he was unable to make it to a meeting on time due to the incident. 

  • At the end of the post, he said that he had hired a lawyer for $400,000 and threatened to end the careers of both the officer and driver.

After the incident, the man placed a 'bounty' on both the driver and police officers. 

 

Since the drama unfolded, the man has come out to explain his strongly worded post.

In a post on Hardwarezone, the man explained his side of the story.

He admitted that his Facebook post had been written out of ‘anger and aggression’, and could be exaggerated.

Here’s a summary of the points he mentioned:

  • He did not throw the $1,000 note at the driver as suggested in his Facebook post, but place it on the arm rest.

  • The man insisted that the driver was not doing an honest job, and he had asked him eight times to bring him and Praise to their destination. 

  • He claimed that Praise was not drunk and they had a plastic bag with them.

  • The cabby was the one who had allegedly challenged him to step outside after he told him off for the ‘sexist’ comments said while Praise had fallen asleep.

  • He only called the police because he was challenged to a fight.

  • He maintained that Praise had fallen asleep as she had studied for two nights straight with no sleep, and not due to the influence of alcohol.

  • The man said that the officer was rude to him and reportedly had his right hand on his gun holster while talking to him.

However, netizens were not convinced by his arguments, and after a few more posts, the man followed with a contrite reply.

He said that he was ‘genuinely sorry for overreacting, being rude, overbearing, arrogant and just being an all-around douchebag’ simply because he was better off financially. 

The man, however, still wanted his post to reach the officer to let him understand why his actions had crossed him.

In a later post, the man said that he would personally pen letters of apology to the officers involved and deliver them himself. 

He also added that he had called the Grab driver to apologise. 

In an update, the man took a photo of his apology letter and said that he had tried calling the neighbourhood police centre (NPC) to get in touch with the officer and his colleagues. 

He also said that he was writing the letter to offer his sincerest apologies.

Read his letter:

“I was the one involved with the Emerald Hill incident on the night of 15th April at about 2:30am. 

“I have tried calling the NPC multiple times to get in touch with you but you and your team were off duty.

“I am writing this to offer my sincerest apologies to you and your team. I understand that you were just doing your jobs and I apologise for making things difficult.

“I know as patrol officers your hours are long and unpleasant. I apologise to the entire team for being rude in my tone, self-entitled and etc. 

"I also apologise for a Facebook post I made that night. I offered a “bounty” to get the contact details of one of your team members. 

“On my end, it was a poor choice of word as what I wanted was his name and rank so I could file an official complaint. 

“But I understand the connotations behind the word – kidnap, harm and abbetment. 

“I broke those laws and also insulted a public servant which I understand is chargeable. 

“Please understand that this apology is by no means meant as a leniency plea – if I am to be charged I will face the consequences. 

“This is a genuine apology from me to your team.”

He also left his phone number and email for the officers to contact him.