Oops!

Excerpt from The Star: Constable seeks help from teen, gets beaten up by villagers instead:

KUALA TERENGGANU: A misunderstanding caused a police constable to sustain facial injuries after villagers at Kampung Alor Mak Bah in Dungun, about 98km from here, assaulted him for allegedly trying to solicit a bribe.

The 21-year-old policeman, who was part of a raiding team, was trailing 10 suspects who ran helter-skelter after police ambushed them while an illegal rooster fight was going on at the village.

When the constable lost sight of the suspects, he stopped to ask a 15-year-old villager whether he had seen any of the them.

However, the teenager thought the constable was asking him for money as he was riding a motorcycle without a helmet.

The teenager then told villagers about the attempted bribe, resulting in a group of them confronting the constable and beating him up.

I can see how "Have you seen a bunch of people running away?" can easily have been heard as "Hey, you're not wearing a helmet. If you give me some money, I'll look the other way."

No, totally. They sound so similar it's unbelievable that the mistake doesn't happen more often.