Phuket family’s plea for justice after harrowing hit-and-run incident

A Phuket resident publicly shared the harrowing ordeal of a hit-and-run incident that took place last Sunday, October 8. The incident involved his family being struck by a pickup truck while they were on their Honda PCX motorbike.

The 36 year old man, Wittaya, and his wife along with their young son were en route to Robinson shopping mall in Thalang for grocery shopping when their bike was hit by the truck. The truck driver, instead of checking on the injured family, chose to flee the scene.

Wittaya revealed the hit-and-run accident occurred just before 8pm on Thepkasattri Road near Wat Tha Rue.

“I was driving my bike in the left-hand lane of the road, as usual, with my wife and son as passengers when suddenly the speeding truck collided with us.”

The family suffered severe injuries as a result of the hit-and-run collision. Wittaya’s wife sustained cuts and bruising to her torso, legs and arms, while their son suffered cuts on his face, legs, ankles, wrists and hand. Wittaya himself suffered facial injuries that required 20 stitches.

“Blood was pouring from my head wound and I was very dizzy, I could not see properly initially.”

Despite his impaired vision, Wittaya distinctly remembers the driver of the pickup truck choosing to speed away from the crash site.

“Pick-up trucks should not be driving that fast. I imagine he was travelling around 80-100 kilometres an hour which is reckless when there is a small child as a passenger. It could have been fatal had the pickup truck been travelling even faster.”

In the aftermath of the collision, a taxi driver who happened to be passing by stopped to assist Wittaya and his family, helping to move his son from the road to a safer location.

“I would like to thank the taxi driver for his help at a time when we needed it.”

Wittaya has since lodged an official complaint with the police and is urging the driver responsible for the accident to come forward. He is also appealing to anyone who was in the vicinity at the time of the incident and may have car camera footage to step forward, reported the Phuket News.

Wittaya believes that such footage could potentially help to identify the vehicle that caused the accident.

“I have made an official complaint to the police but if anyone nearby at the time of the incident has car camera footage it would be very helpful if they could also come forward in the hope we can identify the vehicle that caused this distress.”

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