SAMUT PRAKAN: An off-duty police captain is facing disciplinary and criminal investigations over a video that showed him using a gun to threaten a police volunteer who tried to stop his car at a road checkpoint.
The clip showed a man with a short haircut pulling out a pistol to threaten the volunteer at a checkpoint on Phuttharaksa Road in tambon Praeksa of Muang district in Samut Prakan in the early hours of Friday.
Police officers manning the checkpoint tried to calm the man, who vented his frustration at the volunteer for stopping his pickup truck for a search. The man claimed the volunteer had hit his vehicle, then scolded and intimidated him. His action drew heavy criticism from social media users who viewed the video.
Pol Col Kritsana Pattanacharoen, a deputy police spokesman, said on Saturday that he had received a report about the incident from the Samut Prakan police chief.
The man seen in the video, a police captain attached to the Samrong Tai station, has reported to Muang Samut Prakan police to acknowledge three charges of carrying a weapon in public without a sound reason, threatening others and insulting officers on duty.
The immediate commander of the accused officer has launched a fact-finding investigation. The officer would face both disciplinary and criminal action, said Pol Col Kritsana.
Thai media reported that the accused officer was Pol Capt Somyot Kraikitthanarot, deputy investigation chief at the Samrong Tai station.
The officer, in a plainclothes at the time, had tried to speed past the checkpoint. The volunteer then threw a traffic cone to stop the vehicle and then knocked on the window of the pickup. This angered the driver, who claimed the volunteer had hit his vehicle, according to Thai media.
Video shows a man carrying a pistol threatening a police volunteer at a checkpoint in Samut Prakan as police officers intervene. (Clip posted by @hearonboard Facebook page)