ALOR SETAR: A man died in an accident while being pursued by the police after having punched a policewoman just outside the Kota Setar district police headquarters (IPD) here today.
The man, who is believed to be of unsound mind, was also said to have defaced the walls of the Kedah palace earlier in the day.
According to a police source, the 35-year-old man first arrived at the gates of Istana Anak Bukit here at about 3pm and spray painted some graffiti.
He then rode on his motorcycle to the Kota Setar IPD at about 5pm and randomly punched a 30-year-old policewoman at the sentry and later hurled a fake pistol in its holster at her direction. All of this was caught on camera.
Kedah police chief Kamarul Zaman Mamat said the man was eventually found at Gurun but then escaped on his motorcycle.
“A police team gave chase and warned him to stop but they were ignored. In his attempt to escape, he rode his bike so fast he crashed onto the barrier by the side of a road in Bedong, on the outskirts of Sungai Petani.
“By the time paramedics arrived, he was pronounced dead.”
Meanwhile, the police source told FMT that the deceased was a psychiatric patient at Hospital Alor Setar.-FMT