Driver faces charges over fatal car crash

Pol Lt-General Chaiwat Ketworachai, chief of Provincial Police Region 1, yesterday instructed Pol Maj-General Sutthi Puangpikul, chief of Ayutthaya police, to supervise Phra In Racha Police Station’s investigation of this case to prevent any misstep.

Phra Ajarn Mahahansa Thammahaso, a lecturer in Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University’s Peace Studies Programme, posted on Facebook that the programme and families of the deceased students – Krissana Thaworn, 32, and Thanthapat Horsaengchai, 34 – were grateful for His Majesty the King’s gracious provision of embers for their cremation. Pol Lt-Colonel Somsak Polpankhang of Phra In Racha Police Station went to a Bangkok hospital to notify Jenpop of the charges. 

Somsak said Jenpop confessed to reckless driving although he was falling in and out of consciousness. 

Somsak declined to give details of the talk due to the ongoing investigation, but said police were checking on the reported discovery of medicine in Jenpop’s car. 

Jenpop was not subjected to a sobriety test because he was injured and didn’t smell of alcohol, he said. 

Police were working on the drug test and checking reports that Jenpop was involved in road accidents before, he said. The police probe would be based on evidence to ensure justice, he said. 

The person who took a video of the accident – which went viral on Thai social media – has already contacted police to provide information at a later date, he said. 

Pol Maj-General Methee Kusolsang, deputy chief of Provincial Police Region 1, said police would have to find out what the 10-milligram Lexapro pills found in Jenpop’s car were for and whether the medicine, dispensed by a mental health hospital, could affect his driving ability. 

It was not yet determined if Jenpop took the drug before driving. Jenpop’s father Jessada said he and his family would not shirk responsibility for the tragedy.

He had appeared at the two students’ funerals and the families of the two expressed concern for his son’s condition and wished him to get well soon. Jenpop had a knee injury and was being checked for a concussion.

A campaign on Change.org was launched to gather support for a call for police to ensure justice in road carnage cases involving “rich and influential people” like this one. 

The page had already received 2,184 signatures out of the 2,500 target. 

Various high-profile people continued to mourn the students’ deaths and call for justice. 

Ekkanat Prompan, secretary of the Muan Maha Prachachon Foundation for Thailand’s Reforms, as Thanthapat’s classmate five years ago, urged police to probe this case carefully and transparently, as it could affect the court’s decision if their case wasn’t well built.