2-8-2023 (BANGKOK) A police lieutenant colonel has been dismissed from the force following allegations that he demanded 100,000 baht and sex from a woman motorist in exchange for dropping a charge of trespassing. The incident occurred after her car broke down one night in Saraburi province.
The woman also recounted a harrowing experience of a strange man coming to her aid on the dark road and then attempting to molest her. She escaped and was charged with unlawful entry. The woman, whose name was withheld, sought help from social media advocate Kanthat Pongpaiboonvej, known as Kan Chompalang, who took her to file a complaint in Saraburi and then with deputy national police chief Pol Gen Surachate Hakparn.
The woman said the incident occurred in October last year in Saraburi province. She was driving home at night when her car broke down. A man came to her rescue and towed her car to a house in an isolated street. He tried to sexually molest her, but she escaped and was charged with unlawful entry by the house owner.
The woman was taken to a police station to face the trespassing charge. While there she filed a charge of sexual molestation against the owner of the first house. A police lieutenant colonel later approached her and said he could help. He allegedly demanded 100,000 baht in exchange for not taking the case to prosecutors. The police officer then demanded to have sex with her, she said.
Pol Maj Gen Wichit Boonchinnawutthikul, chief of Saraburi police, promised justice for the woman and said no officer who caused damage to the police force would be protected. The accused officer was a police inspector assigned to administrative work at Muang police station before being moved to assist at Sao Hai police station. He was earlier the subject of an internal fact-finding inquiry for alleged fraud. The probe panel found him guilty and had recommended he be dismissed from the force. A decision was pending when the woman filed her complaint.
