KUALA LUMPUR: Deputy Inspector-General of Police said the Yemeni student, who allegedly knocked down and killed a snatch thief, had over-reacted.
Tan Sri Noor Rashid Ibrahim said the university student had gone beyond the limit of self-defence when he crashed into the suspect.
"Citizen's arrest can be made against such criminals, but should not result in their death.
"But in yesterday case, it was a simple theft case, in my opinion, he had over-reacted," he told reporters after the new police song and police flag for the World Police and Fire Games 2017 handover ceremony at Bukit Aman, on Monday afternoon.
Noor Rashid also assured that the probe would be conducted fairly for both the snatch theft suspect and the Yemeni student.
"We have detained him and the case is now being investigated under Section 304 of the Penal Code for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
"We will give due consideration in our recommendation to the deputy public prosecutor," he said.
The Yemeni man has been remanded for a week till Aug 6 to facilitate investigations.
On the day of the incident, the student was reportedly eating at a restaurant in SP2, Serdang Perdana in Seri Kembangan when his bag was snatched at 3.30am.
The bag contained a wallet with RM2,050 and US$500 (Rm2,141) as well as personal documents.
The student then got into his car and pursued the thief, who was on a motorcycle. After a 3km chase, he reportedly rammed his car into the motorcycle near a traffic light.
The suspect, 25, died of head injuries.