SINGAPORE — When traffic police officers found Jerry Eng Ching Hiang sleeping in his car while still on the road close to Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal, he claimed that he was merely waiting for the traffic light to turn green.

After he failed a breathalyser test, he was arrested and placed in a police car. He then yelled vulgarities at the officers and later threatened to kill their family members.

He was later found to have 68mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood — slightly below the prescribed limit of 80mg per 100ml of blood.

On Thursday (Dec 17), the 23-year-old was ordered to pay a fine of S$6,800. He was working as a junior military expert with the Republic of Singapore Navy at the time of his offences on March 15.

He pleaded guilty to two charges of using abusive language on a public servant and one charge of leaving a vehicle in a manner causing danger to other road users. Another similar harassment charge was taken into consideration for sentencing.

The court heard that Eng had attended a wedding at Changi Village that afternoon. He denied consuming any alcohol.

He left the bar where the wedding was held at about 3pm with a friend, who gave him a lift back to Changi Naval Base.

At about 5.20pm, someone called the police to tell them about Eng being seemingly drunk while at the wheel of a red car. They were at the junction of Tanah Merah Ferry Road and Tanah Merah Coast Road.

A traffic police officer responded to the call and found Eng sleeping in his car on the first lane. Its engine was still running.

The officer managed to rouse him and observed him smelling strongly of alcohol. He asked Eng if he had consumed any but Eng denied doing so.

Eng failed a breathalyser test and was arrested around 7pm.

While driving to the Traffic Police Division headquarters, he shouted Hokkien and English vulgarities several times towards the officer and his colleague. The officers warned him to stop but he did not comply.

When they finally got to the police station , he remained uncooperative.

The officers called their supervisor and placed him on speaker mode. Eng then threatened: “I have the ability to kill their family members... you know that, sir.”

He also told one of the officers: “Is it you want to die?”

Later, he claimed that he could not remember what had happened but admitted that he had lost control of his behaviour.

He did not take the breath analysing device test because he was still behaving aggressively, but gave his consent for blood to be taken for alcohol analysis.

CLARIFICATION: An earlier version of the story stated that Eng was a navy officer, according to court documents. The Ministry of Defence has clarified that he is a junior military expert.