AYUTTHAYA - A motorcycle racer arrested for firing shots at a loaded trailer truck has told police he was very angry because the driver had passed him travelling in the lane he was moving into, and almost hit his bike.
Voraphop Deedpin, 26, of Ayutthaya’s Nakhon Luang district, was apprehended on Thursday on charges of attempted murder and illegal possession of a weapon. Police also seized a 9mm pistol, two pistol magazines and a motorcycle without a licence plate.
The arrest followed the shooting at a trailer truck on the Asia Highway in tambon Bang Nara, Bang Pahan district, around 3am on July 30. The truck, loaded with soybeans, was hit by 11 bullets fired as it passed a large group of motorcycle street racers. Truck driver Suthit Jinpala, his wife and their 7-year-old daughter were unhurt.
During a crime re-enactment on Thursday, Mr Voraphop apologised to Mr Suthit for the shooting. He told police that he had taken part in the motorcycle racing on the highway that night. He had been earlier hired to modify a bike for racing, which he had then taken to the meeting to try out himself.
He was using the left lane and was shifting out to the next lane when he was almost hit by the truck, which was travelling in the middle of the road.
This made him very angry. So he chased after the truck, pulled out his pistol and fired several shots at it.
He said he carried the pistol for his own safety, because there were several teen racing gangs at the gathering, and he did not know most of them.
On the night of the incident, the truck driver told police a big gathering of street racers had taken over the entire left hand side of the road, and he had been forced to move into the middle of the road to pass them.