THERE was chaos in Phuket at around noon today (Jan. 10) when an intoxicated man driving a luxury sedan slammed into nine vehicles as well as two tourists walking by a roadside leading to one of them, a Frenchman, later dying at the hospital, Amarin TV said this evening.
Upon being alerted of the multi-vehicle accident involving several cars and motorcycles, a team from Phuket City police station went to investigate and found the luxury sedan with an auction licence plate driven by the suspect, Mr. Jatuphol (last name withheld), 51, badly damaged after hitting a street light pole with a rear wheel having come off, the windshield and a rear window shattered, and the exhaust pipe detached.
The trail of the deadly dramatic road accident that led to road users panicking unfolded as follows:
– Before hitting any vehicles Jatuphol was driving along Bangkok road heading towards Bangkok-Poonphol traffic-light intersection when suddenly crashing into two pickup trucks, an SUV and a motorcycle damaging all of them.
– The drunk driver then sped off, nearly colliding with an oncoming motorcycle, and continued towards this same traffic-light intersection.
– At the intersection the driver crashed into two motorcycles then hit two pedestrians, both foreign tourists, who were walking along the roadside. One of them, Mr. Loïc Vincent Fontaine, a French national, was seriously injured after being thrown from a vehicle. They were both taken to Vachira Phuket Hospital but Fontaine later died there.
– After that the drunk driver slammed into a street light pole, causing it to fall and subsequently damaging a campaign sign for a parliamentary candidate with his sedan immobilised after being badly damaged.
Police towed the damaged sedan driven by Jatupol to Phuket City police station and took Jatuphol to Vachira Phuket Hospital where a blood alcohol test showed it was above legal limit.
He has been charged with “driving under the influence of alcohol, causing death and property damage to others, and fleeing the scene without taking responsibility.”
CAPTION:
The badly damaged sedan the drunk driver drove, above, and some of the vehicles he damaged, below and Front Page. All photos – Amarin TV
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