Actress Anna Reese was at the wheel of a Mercedes that crashed into a parked police car, killing a crime suppression officer, in Bangkok’s Prawet district on Friday morning, reports said.
She would initially be charged with reckless driving causing death, police said.
The police car was parked in the left lane of the road that parallels the motorway, and the officer was believed to have been asleep. The accident occurred about 3am police said.
Police and rescue workers called to the accident, in front of the BMC Homemart, near the kilometre marker 1 of the motorway, found the body of the policeman in a badly damaged traffic police car with a Suphan Buri licence plate. (continued below)
Two people look at the damaged Mercedes driven by actress Anna Reese following a crash in which a crime suppression officer was killed in Bangkok's Prawet district on Friday morning. (Photo by Kosol Nakachol)
The dead officer was identified as Pol Lt Naradol Wongbundit, 45, a deputy crime suppression chief of Suphan Buri’s Muang district police station.
A black Mercedes-Benz with a Bangkok licence plate and a severely damaged front was parked 10 metres away. The driver, actress Anna Reese, 28, was found crying and screaming at the scene, police said.
Actress Anna Reese, 28, turns herself in to Prawet police on Friday afternoon to hear charges. (Photo by Kosol Nakachol)
Thassanapong Ponpho, 19, a guard at a car showroom near the crash scene, told police he saw the Mercedes and a big bike travelling at high speed, as if they were racing. The motorcycle reduced speed and then he heard a loud crash, Thai media reported.
He immediately went to see and found the sedan had hit the parked police car. The big bike had gone.
Pol Maj Somchai Saraket, a duty officer at Prawet police station, said the dead officer parked the car in the left lane late Thursday night and had slept in it.
Police have yet to press any charges. The actress, whose real name is Anna Hambawaris, sustained minor injuries and was taken to a hospital. She turned herself into Prawet police on Friday afternoon to hear charges.
Pol Lt Gen Sriwara Rangsiphramanakul, commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, said earlier the actress would be initially charged with reckless driving causing death.
Pol Col Metha Jiamkraisri, chief of Prawet police station, said Anna's relatives took her her away when police inspected the crash scene. She would also face a charge of fleeing arrest, he added.