Four video clips posted on Facebook have created an uproar, capturing a disc jockey in a fit of road rage and then lying about it to everyone.
A Facebook user by the name of Body-boy Sawangarom on Friday posted the clips that he said were taken on Mitmaitree Road near the entrance to the Thai-Japanese Stadium in Bangkok. In addition to being seen online, they were played repeatedly on the Friday evening TV news shows.
"The incident happened because one tried to get ahead of the other," the poster wrote. "Each said the other gave him the middle finger. And this is the result."
The clips show a black pickup truck reversing aggressively to hit a red Toyota Yaris three times until its bed was on top of the smaller car's bonnet before the pickup driver stepped out and called the police. The front of the Yaris is shown very heavily damaged.
When the videographer walked up and asked the pickup driver why he had done what he did, the man said the Yaris came into his lane and tried to cut ahead of him. He refused to allow it and claimed the Yaris driver rammed his car into his truck.
The pickup truck driver, later identified as Pattarasak Thiemprasert, also claimed the Yaris driver got out of the car to try to punch him but luckily a motorcycle driver intervened. "Please be fair to me. It's horrible to have such a person in our society," he pleaded.
The Yaris driver told the videographer that the pickup truck had hit him while he was trying to make a turn. After he succeeded, he got out and gave him the middle finger.
A motorcycle driver who stood nearby confirmed the Yaris driver's account, saying the packup driver backed into the Yaris three times at a fair rate of speed.
Mr Pattarasak is a disc jockey at a local radio station. He also acts in some soap operas and works as an emcee. He reportedly was banned from the radio programme after the incident as Facebook users bombarded the station's Facebook page with negative comments.
An internet user on Saturday launched a campaign at change.org, an online campaigning website, asking people to sign up for a petition to revoke Mr Pattarasak's driving licence for life.
Somsak Teerasajaphong from Bangkok posted he needed 35,000 names for the petition, to be submitted to the chiefs of the Land Transport Department and the Royal Thai Police.
The campaign drew 25,103 names as of 12.14pm on Saturday.
Anon Wangsu, chairman of the General Insurance Association, told Thai media on Saturday the insurers of both cars could refuse to pay the damages since it was clear Mr Pattarasak deliberately hit the other car.
In any case, if the Yaris has a first-class, 2+ or 3+ insurance policy, its insurer will have to first pay the owner for the repairs and later demand claims from the owner of the pickup truck, he said.
Source: TV24 NEWSROOM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZCT7RP2ruo