Police defend good Samaritan in fatal pursuit of two robbery suspects
A city police chief said yesterday that it was impossible that a 57-year-old good Samaritan had “thrown” two young suspects off a U-turn overpass in Bangkhuntien district, responding to social media comments that purported to describe the violent act.
Pol Maj-General Samrit Tongtao quoted witnesses as saying the suspects – Borisut Sukpia, 22 and Weerapong Nethibutr, 20 – attempted to escape after allegedly trying to snatch a necklace from a man, when the 57-year-old Apichart Un chased the suspects on his motorbike.
Samrit described the following events on Tuesday, when both young men fell from the overpass, causing the death of one of them, as an “accident”.
“How can Apichart, who is nearly 60 years old, throw the young suspects off the overpass? It was an accident, we believe,” Samrit said.
Both suspects were injured and Borisut later died in hospital. Their friends subsequently wrote on Facebook that Apichart had caught them and thrown both of them off the overpass.
Thawatchai Toh-aramkul, 61, the victim of the attempted robbery, told police he was on his way home from a market on his motorcycle when the suspects grabbed at his gold necklace but failed to snatch it as it fell inside his shirt.