'Drunk officer' accused of hitting bike
- Published: 20 Mar 2013 at 16.02
- Online news:
SURIN - A woman has accused a policeman in Buachet district of drunk driving and crashing into her brother's motorcycle while chasing him along a road.
Lapasrada Horthong, 30, of Surin’s Sangkha district, on Wednesday asked members of the press to help her seek justice.
She said a policeman from Buachet was responsible for a crash involving a police pickup truck and a motorcycle that left her 27-year-old brother Piya in a hospital intensive care unit.
She claimed the police officer was based at Buachet district station.
Ms Lapasrada said the accident occurred at an intersection near Ban Jarn village in tambon Ar Pone about 8.40pm on March 14. Mr Piya was riding his motorcycle home. He passed a traffic kiosk where there were a number of policemen wearing only half their uniforms.
She alleged the policemen chased her brother in two pickup trucks, and one of the vehicles rammed into the rear of the motorcycle about 1.5 km from the Ban Jarn intersection, seriously injuring him.
Ms Lapasrada said she received a tip-off from an eyewitness she declined to name that the man driving the vehicle that crashed into her brother’s motorbike was Pol Sen Sgt Maj Pramoon Wanthong.
Fuan Surakon, 43, a member of the Buachet paramedic unit, said he was at home. He heard the sound of an accident and hurried top the scene.
He found Mr Piya lying unconscious near his motorbike, and two police pickup trucks nearby. One pickup had a broken left front headlight.
Mr Fuan was told by the policemen at the scene that the injured man refused to stop and swerved past the checkpoint they manned at Ban Jarn intersection. Mr Fuan said he had no idea what happened after that.
Ms Lapasrada said the officer's account was not supported by witnesses.
Nearby residents said they saw no police checkpoint operating near the kiosk before the accident. She claimed her brother was a victim of police use of excessive force. She wanted to know why they chased her brother along the road.
Ms Lapasrada said she went to Buachet police station to file a complaint shortly after the accident, but was told by a duty officer that the incident had already been put in a daily record and she need not to lodge a complaint.
She asked that the driver of the damaged police pickup be tested for alcohol. She waited for four hours only to find that another policeman showed up for the test instead.
Ms Lapasrada said she believed the officer involved in the crash had been drinking alcohol and avoided taking the alcohol breath test. The damaged police truck also disappeared, she added.
The woman said she and her family tried to ask officers at the station about the progress in Mr Piya’s case, but they barely cooperated with them at all.
Mr Piya’s family had made an appointment with the chief of Buachet police station to discuss the case on Monday night at the station. The officer agreed to the appointment but failed to show up, she added.
Ms Lapasrada said she submitted letters to the Surin governor and the chief of Surin provincial police on Tuesday, demanding they take action against the policeman she believed injured her brother.
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- Writer: Nopparat Kingkaew
- Position: Writer
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