Forensic officer charged over "Boss" speed data

Pol Col Thanasit: Inspected scene
Pol Col Thanasit: Inspected scene

A former senior prosecutor for the Office of the Attorney-General (OAG) has filed a lawsuit against a former forensic officer who changed the recorded speed of the hit-and-run case of Red Bull scion Vorayuth "Boss" Yoovidhya in 2012.

Chainarong Saengthong-aram and his lawyer on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against Pol Col Thanasit Taengchan, a former officer from the Office of Police Forensic Science who inspected the hit-and-run scene in 2012 and later changed his statement to lower the car speed of Mr Vorayuth's Ferrari from 177kph to 79kph.

The lawyer claimed that Pol Col Thanasit wrongly identified Mr Chainarong as part of a group of people who forged documents, fabricated the evidence and edited the audio record. This led a panel that looked into irregularities surrounding this notorious hit-and-run case to believe that Mr Chainarong took part in tampering with the evidence.

Mr Chainarong was sacked in December last year.

When asked why Mr Chainarong filed the charge on Tuesday, the lawyer said it took time for the team to gather all the evidence.

Mr Vorayuth has been on the run since his Ferrari fatally hit a Thong Lor police officer on Sept 3, 2012.

Several charges against him were dropped, including a speeding charge, after its one-year statute of limitations expired in 2013, followed by another charge of failing to help a crash victim, which expired in 2017.

The only remaining charge against him is reckless driving causing death, which carries a penalty of up to 10 years in jail and has a 15-year statute of limitations, which will expire in 2027.

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Vocabulary

  • charge : an official statement accusing someone of committing a crime - ข้อกล่าวหา
  • evidence: facts statements or objects that help to prove whether or not someone has committed a crime - หลักฐาน
  • forensic: relating to the use of scientific methods to solve  crimes or to find out why something happened - เกี่ยวกับนิติวิทยาศาสตร์
  • former: of or in an earlier time; before the present time or in the past - อดีต, แต่ก่อน
  • hit-and-run: (of a road accident) caused by a driver who does not stop to help - ที่ชนแล้วหนี
  • identified (verb): named, searched for a discovered - ระบุ
  • irregularity: a situation in which the rules, laws, or usual ways of doing things have not been followed - การปฏิบัติที่ไม่เป็นไปตามระเบียบปกติ
  • lawsuit: a claim or complaint against somebody that a person or an organisation can make in court - คดีความ, คดีในศาล
  • lawyer: an attorney - ทนาย
  • notorious: famous for something bad - ซึ่งมีชื่อเสียงในทางไม่ดี
  • reckless: not thinking about the possible bad effects of your actions - สะเพร่า
  • sack: to remove someone from a job; to fire - ปลดออกจากตำแหน่ง
  • scion (noun): a young member of a family, especially a famous or important one - ทายาท
  • statute of limitations: the legal limit on the period of time within which action can be taken on a crime or other legal question  - อายุความ
  • tamper with: to try to change something that should not be changed - เปลี่ยนเพื่อทำลาย
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