A POPULAR Thai star who hit another vehicle while driving drunk early this morning (Sept. 8) got a man who claimed to be his father and a general in the army to threaten the policeman, who tried to get him take a breathalyzer test, that he would transfer the whole station, Siam Rath newspaper reported.
The accident occurred at 5 a.m. this morning when actor Surakiat “Pan” Bunnag, 27, who was driving a Mazda sedan, hit a Chevrolet extended cab pickup driven by Mr. Chatupon Puttakosai, 31, a merchant, beneath the expressway at Wat Bua Khwan, Bang Khen subdistrict, Mueang district, Nonthaburi province.
As the two men could not reach an agreement, with the Mazda being slightly damaged in front while the pickup’s front bumper was scratched with the licence plate having dropped off and the body slightly damaged, Chatupon, who had noticed that the Mazda was driven by someone who was drunk who also refused to get out of his car, called the police.
When Pol. Capt. Niphol Philsawat, deputy inspector at Rattanathibet police station, arrived at the scene he asked Surakiat to step out of his sedan and take a breathalyzer test, but he refused to do so, instead busily made phone calls to a few people.
Finally he asked Pol. Capt. Niphol to speak to a man, who claimed to be his father and a general in the army, who threatened to transfer all the police officers in the station unless they helped him. However this threat did not have any impact on this policeman.
After a while Surakiat’s mother drove up in a Honda Jazz sedan and begged the police to not force her son to take the breathalyzer test. Arguments ensued and this stretch to four hours with Surakiat staying put in his sedan and both mother and son refusing the alcohol breath test.
As a lot of time had passed, Pol. Capt. Niphol and two other officers pulled Surakiat out of his sedan, and as he resisted, he fell and wounded his knee. He had requested that no photographs of him be taken.
They handcuffed him and took him to the station where it was found that his blood alcohol level was 196 miligrammes and he was immediately slapped with drunken driving charge and detained for legal proceedings.
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Surakiat resisting being arrested this morning with his mother trying to help. Photos: Siam Rath
