UTHAI THANI: Two people in a stolen pickup truck were killed and three police injured when the vehicle rammed into a power pole, spun around and then hit a pursuing police pickup in Lan Sak district late on Monday night.
Police said the driver of the stolen pickup refused to stop when police at a checkpoint in Nong Chang district signaled him to halt, acting on information the vehicle had been stolen three days previously from another area.
Instead, the truck sped away with police quickly in hot pursuit. They radioed a warning to checkpoints further along the road, asking that they stop the fleeing vehicle, local media reported on Tuesday.
In Lan Sak district of this central province, the driver lost control of the fleeing pickup near a police booth in tambon Thung Nangam. The vehicle hit a roadside signpost and then a power pole. The force of the crash caused the vehicle to spin around and hit a pursuing police pickup, which plunged into a ditch.
Three policemen in the pursuit vehicle were injured, one seriously. They were named as: Pol Capt Surapot Khreuthanakul, who was badly hurt; Pol Snr Sgt Maj Damrong Budsing; and Pol Cpl Purit Pattharakhunanont. They were rushed to a nearby hospital.
Police in other pursuing vehicles found the driver of the stolen pickup truck dead in the wreckage. He was identified later as Pongsak Roiking.
A woman who had been was thrown from the vehicle was lying dead nearby, face down on the road. She was identified as Supaporn Thongsri. Drug use paraphernalia was found inside the stolen pickup.
Police were investigating.