Former Nakhon Sawan officer will face perjury charges over suspect’s cause of death

The now-ousted Nakhon Sawan police station chief will face perjury charges for his statement on the cause of death of the suspect. The former superintendent of the Mueang station, Thitisan Utthanaphol, is accused demanding a 2 million baht bribe from the suspect and placing plastic bags over the suspect’s head, killing him.

Thitisan, known as “Joe Ferrari” for his collection of luxury cars, said suspect had died after a sting operation and the death was written off as a drug overdose, but recent autopsy results show that he died from suffocation, according to deputy national police chief Suchart Theerasawat. The chief says perjury charges will be filed against Thitisan for his contradictory statement on the cause of death.

“Thitisan told the hospital that the male suspect had died while being arrested after a sting operation… However, it has been proven that the suspect died from being suffocated with layers of plastic bags during interrogation. There is also evidence of resuscitation techniques being applied to the suspect’s body before it was sent to hospital.”

Surveillance camera footage, which was leaked on social media, shows officers putting plastic bags over the suspects head and beating him. Deputy chief of Region 6 Public Prosecutor’s Office, Sophong Yenkaew, says that both the autopsy results and the CCTV footage confirm that the cause of death is suffocation.

“Layers of plastic bags were tightly twisted around the victim’s neck for more than six minutes. Though the victim’s blood has shown traces of drugs, covering anybody’s head in such a manner can be fatal.”

SOURCE: Nation Thailand