CHOKED with emotion, the student who was with Aminulrasyid Amzah on the morning he was shot dead during a police chase on April 26 today went public with his account of what happened.
Azamuddin Omar, 15, said Aminulrasyid’s fear of being reprimanded by his family for driving his sister’s car without her consent was what made his friend ignore police orders to pull over during the high-speed pursuit, which ultimately led to his death.
Azamuddin provided a personal account of the incident at a press conference at Aminulrasyid's house in Section 11 today.
He was accompanied the Parents-Teachers association head of his school Monalisa Mokhtar, and family members.
He said on the night in question, Aminulrasyid had invited him to meet up and had used his sister's car to fetch him before heading to a restaurant in Section 7 where they were to meet up with two others.
But the two friends' motorbike had broken down, so Aminulrasyid and Azamuddin decided to drive over to help.
This was when the car Aminulrasyid was driving grazed another car in the area but he continued driving, resulting in several motorcyclists pursuing the car.
As the scared teen raced to get home, one of the motorcyclist crashed into the car and fell. Aminulrasyid, who by now had panicked, did not stop and sped past a police patrol car, which then gave chase.
Azamuddin said he heard several gunshots being fired at the car, which punctured the tyres just as they were nearing Aminulrasyid's house.
About 100 metres from the house, more shots were fired at the car, hitting the driver.
"He collapsed on my lap," said Amamuddin, adding that Aminulrasyid was bleeding from a head wound.
"The police continued shooting, thinking we were trying to escape as Aminulrasyid's foot was pressed on the accelerator and the car was still moving. The car then swerved to the left and crashed into the wall of a house before coming to a standstill," the teen recounted.
Azamuddin, whose father is a police sergeant attached to the Shah Alam district police headquarters, said he came out of the car quickly and surrendered himself to the police.
However, he alleged that he was assaulted by the policemen.
"I do know how but I managed to break free from them and escaped on foot through a narrow lane. They could not chase me. I returned home," he said.
Lawyer N.Surendran, who is heading a team of 10 lawyers who are representing the family, questioned the actions of the police in the case.
"As you can see as said by the witness there were no attempts to reverse the car or ram into the police and there was no parang," he said.
Earlier, Aminulrasyid's family urged the media, politicians and members of the public to speculating or politicising the case.
Aminulrasyid's uncle Kamaruddin Hassan said the family also rejects the call by the police to hold an inquest over the incident as it was clear how the teenager was killed.
Instead, he said the family wants a Royal Commission of Inquiry formed to probe Aminulrasyid's death.
Meanwhile, Selangor police chief DCP Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar said that it was unethical for lawyers representing Aminulrasyid's family to allow Azamuddin to allow give his account when the case is being investigated.
"This is probably the first time a material witness whose account is crucial to the case has been brought out to make an open comment. This can amount to tampering of evidence. As lawyers, they should know better. Do they want to confuse the public or have them judge the case even before the probe in complete?" he said.
He said the statements made earlier by the police on the case were facts and it would not derail the outcome of the investigations.
He said police expect to re-submit the investigation paper to the AG Chambers by Wednesday.
He urged the public and all parties to wait for the probe to be complete and not speculate.
