Police on Monday employed a crash-test dummy to help determine if late tycoon Chuwong Sae Tang really was killed in a traffic accident as claimed by his driver.
Police and specialists from the King Mongkut's Institution of Technology North Bangkok placed a mannequin of the same size as Chuwong in the front passenger seat of the same model of Lexus sports-utility vehicle in which the 50-year-old owner of construction firm Standard Performance was found dead June 26.
Fifteen cameras were installed inside and outside the Special Branch Police-owned vehicle to record the dummy's movements as the crash was re-enacted on Chalerm Phra Kiat-Rama IX Road in Prawet district Monday.
To ensure the most accurate results, police also set the Lexus' tyre pressure, brakes and suspension system as they were recorded in June after former deputy commerce minister Banyin Tangpakorn crashed the SUV into a roadside eucalyptus tree, allegedly killing Chuwong.
Pol Lt Col Banyin earlier testified he was driving at 80 kilometres per hour when he swerved and hit the tree, but police did not recreate that scenario fearing that, not would the Lexus flip, but it wasn't the vehicle's actual speed.
Based on CCTV footage, investigators had calculated the SUV had been moving at only 38 km/h. As such, police drive the vehicle at 40 km/h to recreate the wreck.
Although the Lexus ran onto a sidewalk as earlier reported, the crash test failed to have the vehicle hit the tree. However, the dummy's head still hit and cracked the windshield.
Pol Col Prasert Pattanadee, deputy commander of the Crime Suppression Division, said it would take three to four weeks to analyse results of the tests.
Pol Lt Col Banyin, a former member of the Thai Rak Thai, Pracharaj and Matchimatipataya parties, has been charged with theft, document forgery, use of forged documents, and receiving stolen property in connection with the illegal transfer of some 260 million in Chuwong's corporate shares.
Facing similar charges in the case are two of the Standard Performance owner's former mistresses and one of their mothers. The shares were transferred to the pregnant 26-year-old model and caddy days before his death.
The test vehicle rests near the eucalyptus tree in the re-enactment in Prawet district on Monday. (Photo by Pattanapong Hirunard)