A fresh autopsy on the body of 40-year-old big-bike rider Nares Rojboonsongsri, allegedly shot dead by a Chon Buri policeman, has confirmed that he died from a gunshot wound to the head.
Dr Suranarong Srisuwan, director of the Office of Forensic Science Service 2, said the injuries found on Nares’s head during the second post-mortem examination were caused by a long distance gunshot.
The bullet horizontally entered the back of Nares’s head and exited through the front, causing a laceration in the left side of his brain. This led to bleeding and swelling of the brain, which subsequently caused his death.
The exit wound was not detected in the first autopsy carried out at a private hospital in Si Racha after his death.
Dr Suranarong said the projectile’s size was not known, since it did not remain in the deceased's body
He was speaking at a press briefing after a three-hour autopsy performed at Thammasat University Hospital’s Forensic Medicine Division, in Pathum Thani’s Khlong Luang district, on Thursday.
Pol Sr Sgt Maj Suphan Chamnit, of Nong Kham police station in Si Racha, Chon Buri province, is accused of shooting Nares.
The bike rider is said to have sped through a police checkpoint at Huay Lek bridge in tambon Nong Kham on the night of March 14.
The police officer earlier said Nares, who was not armed, was travelling at high speed and he thought the motorcyclist was going to run into another officer at the checkpoint.
He claimed he fired a warning shot into the air to stop Nares. Instead the man lost control of his motorcycle and fell off. Nares was pronounced dead at a hospital shortly after.
The police senior sergeant has been charged with murder. He denied the charge.
Pol Col Chakrit Sawasdee, chief of Chon Buri Provincial Police investigation branch, said the entry and exit bullet wounds detected by the forensic pathologist confirmed that police had used excessive and unnecessary force.
Investigators would wrap up their report within a month and hand the case over to public prosecutors.
Before the autopsy was performed, Nares’s elder brother Bantoon, 46, declined to comment on allegations by police manning the Huay Lek checkpoint that Nares was drunk and tried to speed through the checkpoint to avoid stopping for a search.
But he vowed to take decisive legal action against the killer if the autopsy results showed Nares had been shot before he died.
Pol Maj Gen Piya Uthayo, deputy chief of the Office of Human Resources, on Thursday said he had instructed the Royal Thai Police Operations Centre to monitor a group of big-bike riders who plan to gather at Provincial Police Region 2 headquarters this Saturday for activities to mourn Nares’s death.
On Tuesday night, the bikers and angry residents converged on Huay Lek bridge, where Nares sustained his fatal injuries.