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SKATEBOARD TRAGEDY
12-year-old killed while crossing road on skateboard; Hospital Umum [This would usually be written with the name of the hospital first, i.e. Umum hospital] personnel sued
PETALING JAYA:
A 12-year-old Singaporean boy who was crossing a road on his skateboard was killed yesterday when he was hit by a Mini Cooper.
Austin Chen, staying in Bangsar, died
on the spot [Suggest "instantly"] shortly after the 4 p.m. collision. He was a foreign student studying in La Salle Secondary School. Prior to the collision, he was attending a club meeting at his school.
Police said Austin was skateboarding across a road just in front of La Salle Secondary School after the meeting when Liew Man Fah, 29, of SS2 struck him in his Mini Cooper, knocking him to the ground.
According to a witness, upon noticing Chen crossing the road out of the blue, Mr. Liew immediately braked hard to avoid hitting him. In the process, he lost control of the car, which skidded, and resulted in Chen being knocked down.
Chen’s father, a Singaporean who has stayed and worked in Bangsar for more than 5 years, rushed to the scene
even earlier than [This phrase is a bit awkward, I'd suggest "arriving before"] the ambulance
just [I would delete "just"] to find his only son lying
unconsciously in the pool [Should read "unconscious in a pool"]of blood. Austin was eventually taken
to the nearest Hospital Umum [Should this read "to the nearest hospital, Umum hospital,..." by his father, where he was
announced [This should be "pronounced"] dead.
45-year-old Chen Jit Kong, who was
thronged ["Thronged" does not work here. The usual adjective would be "stricken"] with grief, blamed the personnel of Hospital Umum for the
delay [What delay? The time it took for the ambulance to arrive? I think you shold make it clear, especially as you talk about a lawsuit later on]. On top of that he was also
sprung with regrets [You wouldn't say "sprung". "Filled with regret" or "filled with remorse" would be quite common] as he said he should not have bought his son the skateboard.
According to Chen, his wife was still left
uniformed [Spelling - "uninformed"] about their son’s death
as [and?] he feared “she might not be able to face it and hence do stupid stuff.” Chen’s wife was staying with her parents in Singapore.
The Petaling Jaya Police Department is currently still investigating
on [delete] the accident. Chen has filed suit against Hospital Umum
for their negligence [You would have to say "alleging negligence" or "for their alleged negligence". Otherwise you could have a possible libel action against your paper
] .