A police senior sergeant major will face an investigation over an unusual incident on Monday night (April 16) when he reportedly ran away from a drunken suspect after being threatened.
The conduct of the police officer, Pol Snr Sgt-Maj Pitak Woramoon, a traffic policeman attached to the Metropolitan Police Bureau, especially his panicky escape from the suspect, has sparked off a flood of criticism from netizens when a clip showing him shout for help was posted in the social media.
It was reported that Pol Snr Sgt-Maj Pitak stopped a car with three men inside at a road block and he found the driver, a Myanmar national, appeared to be drunk. Then he boarded the suspect’s car and ordered him to drive to Thonglor police station where he expected to book the driver on charge of drunk driving.
However, the driver didn’t head for Thonglor police station, but took a different route and while the car was travelling he allegedly threatened the police officer, prompting the latter to fear for his own safety. The jumped out of the car and shouted for help from taxi drivers.
Commenting on the unusual incident on Wednesday (April 18), Pol Lt-Gen Charnthep Sesavej, commissioner of Metropolitan Police Bureau, said he faulted Pol Snr Sgt-Maj Pitak of disciplinary violation for allowing a suspect to escape.
The fact that Pol Snr Sgt-Maj Pitak allowed the suspect to drive his car after being arrested of drunk driving amounted to another violation, he said, adding that he wanted to find out whether the road block was legally set up or not.
For the time being, the commissioner said that he ordered a panel to be set up to determine whether the police officer failed to do his job properly and whether disciplinary action should be taken against him.
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