Singapore hawker, 73, hospitalised after being thrown to ground

The 73-year-old hawker pulled to the floor at a Singapore coffee shop after patting a toddler's head has been hospitalised, his family said. Police identified the man in connection with the assault at 50 East Coast Road on Aug. 15, and investigations are ongoing, police told CNA.

Yeo Song Khoon went to hospital for checks on Aug. 17 after initially refusing medical attention, his family posted on Instagram, showing him in a wheelchair and hospital gown. His stall, Bei-Ing Wanton Noodle, will stay closed until Aug. 20.

Yeo told Mediacorp's 8world on Aug. 16 that he had shut his stall and was buying coffee when he passed a table where a girl of about two or three was sitting. He found her "very adorable" and patted her head. "Old people like to pat young children's heads," he said.

CCTV footage the stall posted on Facebook and Instagram on Aug. 15 shows Yeo moving slowly between tables and steadying himself on them before touching the girl's head. Her mother reaches out to stop him. The girl's father, who had stepped away, returns, gestures at Yeo, then grabs his arm and pulls him to the floor.

Yeo struck a table on the way down and hit his head, leaving it swollen and red, his 29-year-old son Yeo Zhi Wei told Shin Min Daily News. The elder Yeo felt no pain at the time and insisted he was fine, so the family let the girl's parents leave.

He has walked with a limp since a traffic accident more than 20 years ago and has implants in both hips and unequal leg lengths, his son-in-law Zheng Zhi Cheng, a 54-year-old private-hire driver, told Shin Min. A doctor had warned Yeo he must never fall.

The girl's father apologized after learning about those mobility problems and offered to buy him a drink, which he declined, Yeo said.

Back pain set in two to three hours after the fall, Yeo told 8world.

The family grasped how hard he had been thrown only after watching the CCTV footage, Zheng told Shin Min. They posted it publicly to find the man. The apology was appreciated, the stall wrote, "cannot simply take away the physical pain."

A diner who witnessed the incident returned to leave his contact details and offered to serve as a witness, the family told Mothership. A police report followed.

The video drew more than 1,700 comments and 3,000 shares on Facebook by the afternoon of Aug. 17, AsiaOne reported. Most commenters condemned the force used, though some said parents have reason not to want strangers touching their children, according to Stomp.

Ah Boys to Men actor Noah Yap visited the stall on Aug. 16 and wrote on Instagram that Yeo was in good spirits and "still his usual chirpy self" was refusing to see a doctor. "Violence is never the answer to anything," he wrote. Actress Lina Ng also visited and actor Romeo Tan reposted the footage, saying there had been no need to get physical, Mothership reported.

Two clinics offered help in the comments, one a free consultation for Yeo's back pain, according to AsiaOne.

Yeo has sold wanton noodles at the Roxy Square coffee shop for more than 40 years and is known to regulars for calling out order numbers in a voice Shin Min measured in 2025 at up to 111 decibels. He took over the stall from an aunt in 1984.