Police order road rage student to pay 500 Baht
After a video went viral showing a Thai student jumping on top of another car and threatening the female driver, police have stepped in with a punishment that will surely deter him from doing anything similar in the future.
It takes a special kind of road rage to inspire a man to jump on top of another driver’s car, but we got just that in Thailand this week.
The 13-second video documenting university student Nattakrit Tulapan’s moment of glory was shared widely yesterday on the popular Facebook page ironically named “If you want to be famous, I’ll help you.” Mission accomplished.
The incident, which not only saw Tulapan leap onto the car but give a solid kick to his victim’s side-view mirror, reportedly happened Wednesday evening on the motorway in Chonburi province.
His act quickly spreading across the internet, the 21 year old showed up at the police station — along with his dad — to (wisely) turn himself in.
The video was posted with a caption allegedly written by the victim’s brother.
“My sister was driving home,” it reads. “Then this black car tried to squeeze in her lane and flipped her off. He threw a water bottle at her, and their cars ended up colliding many times. That’s not enough. He got out of the car to attack her and demanded her to get out too. He stomped on her car as seen in the clip. Thanks to the person who filmed this.”
The victim, identified as Patchamon Siriwanich, 40, filed a complaint with police the next morning, adding she didn’t get out of the car because she was scared.
Yesterday, Nattakrit reported to Laemchabang Municipality Police after seeing himself on the news. He admitted to being the man in the video but said that his girlfriend was the one driving. Well … at least initially.
“My girlfriend was driving on the right lane, and this person [Patchamon] cut in front of her. So my girlfriend told me to roll down the window, and I just gave that woman the finger! I saw her mumble insults at me in the car,” Nattakrit told reporters.
“We kept cutting in front of each other. Then she rear-ended me. So I took over the wheel. I cut in front of her again and that’s when the video started. I’m not gonna try to make myself look good here. I’m telling the truth,” he said casually.
The pair met this morning at the police station, with Nattakrit apologizing and telling police he’d pay for compensation.
Police charged Nattakrit with offending and alarming another person, for which he was punished with, you guessed it, a THB500 fine ($US15).
Regarding the damage to their respective cars, the pair will negotiate for compensation, Sanook reported.
Source: Coconuts
