Who is Masaerati hit-and-run driver Lee Cheng Yan?

In case you weren’t tuned in to the news or social media the past few days, a 34-year-old man named Lee Cheng Yan became the centre of a car chase and hunt after he injured a traffic police officer with his illegally-modified Maserati along Bedok Reservoir Road.

In a report by the Straits Times, Lee was said to be the suspect in a hit-and-run case caught on video where normal citizens took chase after he severely injured the traffic police officer Staff Sergeant Khairulanwar Abd Kahar, 26 years old.

Take a look at the video here:

Reports say Lee was flagged by Kahar at around 9:20 last Friday, and was about to be approached by the office when the former suddenly reared back and sped away, injuring and taking Kahar with him.

The officer was then dragged almost 100 meters with Lee’s Maserati before he was able to let go. But at that point he had sustained multiple injuries. He was taken to Changi Hospital for treatment.

Upon seeing the incident, two people on a motorcycle gave chase, but they lost him as well. Still, the police continued the hunt after the civilians had pulled away.

The police finally caught up with Lee in an apartment in a Geylang Bahru Road HDB flat. The Maserati was found abandoned in Cedar Avenue off Upper Aljunied Road. He was caught wearing only boxer shorts and a t-shirt.

Not the first person he’s hit with his car

For a man who likes to ride fast, he sure isn’t very careful.

He had hit another person with the same Maserati before.

He caused harm to Haji Zulkifri Faiz Zanal, 23, along Orchard Road on May 9 last year. For the crime, he was given the maximum $2,500 fine and banned from driving for nine months.

In court, it was proven that at 4.40am that day, he was driving along Orchard Road with another driver to his right when Lee changed lanes abruptly.

He hit the other car, which hit Haji Zulkifi. Both the biker and his 26-year-old female pillion rider were sent soaring from the motorcycle, making them sustain injuries that led to confinement.

Haji Zulkifri and his companion had to stay in the hospital for a few days and gained fractures and multiple cuts.

Not his first run-in with the (traffic) law

The Maserati he used to harm Sergeant Kahar and Haji Zulkifri has been a part of previous cases, where Lee had been facing judges because of how the vehicle violated specifications for Singapore use.

He had been to court on two occasions, according to reports, because his Maserati was modified for racing, instead of Singapore road use.

Reports said that he would take the Maserati for inspection then modify it again for racing in Malaysia. When inspection came along, he would go back to the allowed configuration then put it back to the illegal set up afterwards.

He would rent an allowable exhaust system for the inspections then once those were over, he would return the system and install his own. He was caught in 2013 and 2015.

But some of his neighbours would complain about the noise that his Maserati generated and so he would get caught.

Familiar with the court

With so many cases against him, wouldn’t you be surprised as to how he’s gotten away with it all? According to reports, he’s mostly been fined, had his license suspended and the Maserati seized by authorities for his violations.

According to his lawyers during the cases of his modifying his Maserati, he was very remorseful of his actions.

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Image from Shutterstock.

For this hit-and-run case, though, he is still unrepresented as of publishing. He’s been arrested for of causing grievous hurt by performing a rash act and he can be jailed for up to four years and fined up to $10,000.

Header photo and other images from The Staits Times.