Two coffee shop cleaners were caught in an altercation over a bag of garbage which resulted in one of the men being taken to the hospital.
According to Zaobao, the fight between the two men broke out after one of them, a 39-year-old man, refused to help his co-worker, a 63-year-old uncle, take the garbage out.
The incident reportedly occurred on 26 January at 9.39 am, at a coffee shop on Blk 338 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1.
When a reporter visited the coffee shop this morning, a hawker assistant, who did not want to be named, revealed that he heard the two cleaners arguing and they were shoving each other. One female manager of the coffee shop tried to stop them from fighting.
“This is the first time the two have quarreled. The uncle, who has just started working here for about two weeks, asked his colleague to help him take out the garbage. However, the latter refused, saying that he has done everything himself. He scolded the uncle, asking him why can’t he take out the garbage by himself? The two then started scolding each other because of this. We all heard the uncle say, “bring it on if you want to fight”, so the fight broke out as a result,” said the hawker assistant.
Another female stall assistant revealed that at that time, the two men were just shoving each other and they were not fighting with each other. However, when the elder man stood aside, he began trembling and fainted to the ground with his face facing downwards. She said that uncle remained unconscious and there were members of the public who tried to help. The uncle remained unconscious even when the ambulance came.
His colleague who got into the conflict with him stood by the side in shock. Later when the police arrived, they questioned the man and took him away.
In response to queries, the police confirmed that they were alerted to the fight when it broke out. The 63-year-old man was taken to the hospital in an unconscious condition, while the 39-year-old man was arrested for causing an affray. The case is still under investigation.
63-year-old uncle still in a coma
A worker who works in the coffee shop revealed that the arrested cleaner has been working in the coffee shop for about five or six years, and the elder cleaner is a newcomer. Both work the morning shift. Other employees at the coffee shop shared that both have bad tempers, and both are at fault.
The coffee shop manager who tried to intervene said in an interview that after learning that the two had quarreled, she immediately rushed forward to pull them apart. She also revealed that the two were not fighting when the uncle fell to the ground. She said that neither of them came to work today, and she is not sure of the current situation. She added that the company will make the necessary arrangement following the incident.
3 members of the public took turns to help the uncle who was bleeding from the mouth and nose
Reportedly, two kind-hearted girls and a clinic doctor were present to perform CPR for the uncle. At that time, the uncle was bleeding from his mouth and nose.
The doctor, who runs a family clinic near the coffee shop, revealed that he was attending to patients at the time when someone came to the clinic for help saying that a man has fainted after a fight, so he rushed out to help, “When I arrived, there were already two girls performing CPR for the uncle. I took over and continued to perform CPR for him for about 13 minutes. I also made sure that someone had notified the ambulance and went to the nearby to find an automated external defibrillator (AED),” he said.
He then started using the AED to revive the uncle twice, but the uncle remained unconscious. Later, the ambulance arrived and took the unconscious uncle to the hospital. As he was trying to revive the uncle, he realised that the uncle was bleeding from his mouth and nose. He put on an oxygen mask for the uncle after clearing away the blood and saliva.
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