[VIDEO] Traffic Officer Filmed Falling Asleep On Duty Has M'sians Worried About His Health
Some netizens speculated that the traffic officer was suffering from narcolepsy.
By Jasmine Chea — 16 Feb 2023, 11:46 AM
A traffic officer in Kuching, Sarawak, was filmed falling asleep by passersby, on Monday, 13 February, leaving many Malaysians worried about him
According to a local news and media Facebook page, FTopNews, the 14-second video showed the police officer standing at a roadside curb of a busy street with his head down.
The officer can be seen swaying slightly as if to keep himself steady while he closed his eyes, presumably for a few winks of sleep.
The original poster who took the video began to heckle the officer, asking him to wake up.
The video has since made its rounds on Facebook, garnering 247,000 views and 562 comments at the time of writing
Some Facebook users were theorising that the police officer was not well and needed to be taken for a medical checkup as soon as possible.
"He's probably sick. Normal people would find a place to sleep if they wanted to be lazy. The officer is sleeping on the roadside. Isn't this courting death by falling asleep on the roadside? Relevant authorities need to pay attention to the physical fitness and health of their whole team," one netizen said.
Another Facebook user theorised that the officer may have narcolepsy, a sleep disorder that causes narcoleptics to have difficulty staying awake and have random episodes of sleeping spells.
One netizen sympathised with the officer, saying that being a police officer is not an easy job and the public may not know what he was going through at that time. He also urged Malaysians to be kind and respectful to others.
Kuching district police headquarters has since released a statement about the incident on Tuesday, 14 February, on its official Facebook page
Kuching district police chief ACP Ahsmon Bajah confirmed in his statement that the incident occurred on Friday, 10 February at the Uplands roundabout in Kuching.
The officers on duty at the time of the recording were on duty to relieve traffic congestion.
In order to investigate the matter further, the officer that was recorded falling asleep will be going through a medical examination in order to determine if there were any issues with his health at the time.
Ahsmon thanked the public for their concern for the police officer in question.
