Dr Shahrom Abd Wahid said that it was “not likely” for Adib to come out from the reversing emergency medical rescue service (EMRS) van, in an attempt to escape the riot.
“We estimated the van was reversing at a speed of 15kph when it was attacked by a crowd from the front.
“I conducted an experiment by calling on a fireman to jump down from the van at a speed of 15kph. The fireman did not jump.
“Bear in mind, the van is high. The fireman or anyone may not have been brave enough to jump at all,” he said.
Shahrom was responding to questions from the housing and local government ministry’s lawyer, Syazlin Mansor, on whether Adib had tried to escape from the riot on Nov 27 last year.
The former forensic doctor from Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (HUKM) was called in to assist in Adib’s inquest.
Previously, government doctors from Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL) said they believed Adib had stepped out from the front passenger seat and there were no injuries to suggest the late fireman was assaulted.
Shahrom also stood by his theory that Adib was pulled out by someone from the van when the vehicle was reversing.
He also told the inquest that there were several individuals around the van when it reversed.
“Based on the 46-second video, when the crowd attacked the fire truck, it reversed and hit the van behind. I realised that the van’s back and left windows were broken at the end of the video,” Shahrom said.
He said the back and left windows were damaged by several individuals who threw helmets at the van during the riot. The Fire and Rescue Department officers found these helmets inside the van, he added.
“I conducted tests by asking several firemen to throw helmets at the van‘s windows from far and near.
“What I concluded was that it is hard to break the EMRS van’s windows by throwing objects from far.
“They can only be broken if someone hits the helmet on the windows at arm’s length three to eight times,” Shahrom said.
He also did not rule out the possibility that Adib’s alleged assailants were individuals who were standing around the reversing van that night and not those who attacked the fire truck from the front.
“Adib may have seen the attackers when the van was reversing but did not foresee those people attacking him,” Shahrom added.
The inquest was called by the government amid conflicting claims on the cause of Adib’s death.
He was part of a response team sent from the Subang Jaya fire and rescue station on Nov 27 last year to the Sri Maha Mariamman temple area in USJ 25 in answer to a call that cars had been set on fire.
The hearing continues on Monday. Coroner Rofiah Mohamad will hear objections from the inquest‘s conducting officers and lawyers on recalling HKL’s pathologist, Dr Ahmad Hafizam Hasmi.