High speed: Foreign man hits stolen taxi into power pole in Pattaya

Officers from Mueang Pattaya Police Station detained a foreign man high on cannabis after he stole a taxi and crashed the vehicle into an electric pole.

Police were alerted to the car accident on Thappraya Road, connected to Jomtien Sai Song Road, at around 4am today, September 12. Officers arrived to find a blue and yellow taxi, with the registration plate ทข 721, wrapped around an electric pole near the traffic police checkpoint.

The driver of the vehicle was not a taxi driver but a shirtless foreign man aged between 25 and 35 years old. The taxi driver, who owned the car, was standing nearby. The foreign man, whose nationality remains undisclosed, was clearly under the influence of something.

The foreigner, dressed only in black boxer shorts, was unable to answer the police’s questions. He simply told officers that he was high on cannabis. The man then lay down and fell asleep on the footpath. He was later taken to the police station and detained for further questioning and legal proceedings.

The taxi driver, 37 year old Sarayut Panprasong, told Channel 7 that he parked the car in the left lane of the road and went inside a convenience store, leaving the engine running. While in the store, he saw the foreigner get into his car and drive away.

Sarayut said the foreigner didn’t get far, as he crashed into the electric pole near the store. Police officers from a nearby checkpoint quickly responded to the accident, restraining the foreigner before calling for a support team to take him to the police station.

Police will question the foreigner once he regains consciousness. Officers initially charged the man with consuming alcohol or other intoxicants and behaving disorderly in a public place. The penalty for this is a fine of up to 5,000 baht.

In a related report from July, a foreign man escaped from a hospital in Phuket, stole a van at a petrol station, and crashed it into another vehicle. The foreigner attempted to flee the scene but was unable to exit the vehicle as his leg was trapped in the wreckage.

Matichon reported that the foreigner had been hospitalised earlier due to his rampage but escaped from the hospital and caused further chaos.