A drunk driver crashes sedan into crowd of people, 4 injured

A drunk driver crashed his sedan into a group of pedestrians and motorcycles in front of Chanthaburi Technical College on Tuesday, May 16. The incident resulted in four injuries including three university students and one woman. One of the victims is in critical condition.

The 65 year old drunk driver, Charoon, was captured on CCTV crashing his Honda City sedan into a group of pedestrians who were crossing the road. Fortunately, most of the pedestrians managed to evade the collision, but Charoon’s vehicle directly struck two motorcycles situated in the front. The two riders and one passenger managed to escape the crash but were injured.

Charoon did not stop at the scene. He continued driving down the road at a high speed and dragged a motorcycle along the way with him. Suddenly, Charoon crashed into another victim, a female university student, Natharat, who was walking along the road.

Charoon neglected to check on the victim and proceeded to drive until his car collided with a parked sedan. A traffic police officer in front of the college quickly followed Charoon and managed to arrest him and take him to a police station for further questioning.

According to the police report, Charoon had a high amount of alcohol in his system. The test result showed that he had 285 milligrams of alcohol in his blood which is a lot higher than the legal limit of 50 milligrams in Thailand.

Natharat suffered a severe head injury and underwent surgery last night. Her condition remains stable but she is under close observation from medical professionals.

Charoon was initially charged with driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury to another person and damage to the assets of another person. He will face a penalty of imprisonment from one to five years, a fine from 20,000 to 100,000 baht, and a driving license suspension of at least one year according to Section 160 of the Land Transport Act.

Despite concerted efforts by both private and governmental organizations to launch campaigns aimed at preventing such incidents, cases of drunk driving in Thailand continue to make headlines. This drunk driving incident is the second high-profile case this week.

Recently, a member of the Move Forward Party (MFP), Nateepat Kulsetthasith, resigned from her position after being stopped at a police checkpoint, which revealed an excessive amount of alcohol in her system.

Nateepat was sentenced to two months in jail and a fine of 4,000 baht. The imprisonment was suspended for two years. During this period, she will be required to attend court every four months and engage in 12 hours of public service activities. Her driving license is suspended for six months.