A new twist to the hit and run saga here in Thailand.

Major (Doctor) Hathaiporn Imwittaya is now under the “protection” of armed Thai Army soldiers. That could be more dangerous than a hit and run.

It seems that Doctor Hathaiporn Imwittaya, the hit and run victim, has been receiving threatening phone calls.

Threatening phone calls are the latest concern for a female military doctor recovering in hospital from brain injuries after a mysterious road rage incident. Two soldiers have been posted to keep constant guard at her bedside following the calls by an unknown male voice.

OK.  This shouldn’t be too hard to trace and figure out who made the calls.  Where are the Thai Police Forensics folks?

Captain Premkamon Pitakwong, a physical therapist at the Phramongkutklao Hospital, said the two soldiers had been assigned to provide security to Hathaiporn around the clock.

“One is on duty during the day while the other is on duty during the night,” he said. Details of the phone threats are unknown.

So, since the hit and run was by a car driven by an Army Colonel (he confessed but no one believes him), who suspect is covering up for someone higher up (the son of an Army General), it is decided to have the Doctor protected by soldiers from the Thai Army.  I just don’t understand.

Maybe the Army is less corrupt than the Thai Police, who really should be the ones providing 24-7 protection for the hit and run victim.

But, no, this is Thailand, and so they send over two soldiers to work 12 hour shifts guarding the Doctor.  If you have ever been in Thailand and have seen anyone working “Security”, you know that all they do is sleep.

I will give credit to the Doctor’s mom.  In an article today in The Nation, Soldiers guard military doctor“, she said the following:

We will not settle the case out of court. This is clearly attempted murder. The culprit is cruel and a threat to society,” Hathaiporn’s mother, Dr Pannakorn Imwittaya, said yesterday.

Apparently, she has not received a monetary offer high enough.  Sorry to sound crass, but this is how things are done in Thailand.  Even for murder, there is a payoff to avoid going to jail.  And, this was just a “hit and run” with a possible charge of attempted murder.

On a positive note, the hit and run victim, Doctor Hathaiporn Imwittaya is making good progress and is expected to leave Intensive Care today.  Hopefully she will be able to talk and name her attacker.

The Colonel who confessed to the “hit and run accident” is still sticking to his lame story:

Colonel Saksit Phuklan, director of the Office of the Army Comptroller’s central division director, has told police he drove the car that caused injuries to Hathaiporn, insisting it was an accident.

Hopefully, the Doctor can debunk this.

“The investigation is progressing well,” Metropolitan Police Division 1 deputy commander Colonel Weerawit Janjamrern said.

Yeah, right.  After ten days, the Thai Police have determined that the driver of the hit and run vehicle was male.  Wonder how long it will take to determine that the victim of the hit and run was female?

He said the Scientific Crime Detection Division was in the process of making the pictures from security cameras clearer. “Within a few days, we should be able to tell the clothes of the driver,” Weerawit said.

Yesterday, the review of the 40 hit and run photos was supposed to be completed by tomorrow.  Now it will be “within a few days” which in Thai-speak means 2-3 weeks.  And, since we now know that the hit and run driver was male, it will be nice to see that he wasn’t naked and maybe we can see if he was making a fashion statement.  Why doesn’t Metropolitan Police Division 1 deputy commander Colonel Weerawit Janjamrern say that within a few days we will know the IDENTITY of the hit and run driver?

However, he said the most important key to solving this case was Hathaiporn’s statement.

“We will consult doctors first about her brain condition and her readiness to provide information,” Weerawit said.

I guess forensics, photos, videos, and eye-witness accounts don’t really matter.  We have to wait for the Doctor, who was in a coma, to provide the crucial evidence of the hit and run.

For the past couple of weeks, the fingers were pointed at the son of an Army General as the real driver of the car that caused the “hit and run accident”.  But, a couple of pieces of NEW information (after 10 days) has come to light:

To date, police have not yet pressed charges against anyone in Hathaiporn’s case. Saksit’s daughter, whom many suspected might have been the culprit, has not yet testified.

The daughter is under 20 years old.

Holy Crap!  He isn’t protecting someone up the Military Food Chain.  He is trying to protect his own daughter who is “under 20″.  More brilliant reporting by The Nation – can’t even tell the girl’s age.  If she is under “18″, then she is is driving illegally.  The legal age for driving a car in Thailand is 18.

Maybe this is why the Thai Police made the big announcement yesterday that the hit and run driver was a “male”.  I guess this is supposed to quell all the Internet rumors that it was the daughter who committed the hit and run.

But, I have learned that in Thailand, the more anyone in the Thai Government tries to get you to accept one side of a story, most likely the other side is true.

Now, the daughter was supposed to give the Thai Police a statement in this hit and run “accident” but she had to sit in on an exam.  Yes, school is more important than getting to the bottom of a possible attempted murder case.

So, she told the Thai Police she would stop by at her convenience “next week” to give a statement about the hit and run.  Amazing Thailand.  The “under 20″ daughter gets to dictate when she has to come in to see the Thai Police, not to undergo questioning, but to give a statement.  So far, she has not showed up.

Aren’t there any laws in Thailand regarding obstructing justice?

If the daughter was the driver, she should fess up and accept the consequences.  Oh, I forgot. This is Thailand where no one ever accepts responsibility for their actions.

So, the hit and run victim, Doctor Hathaiporn Imwittaya, now under Thai Army guard, is the KEY to solving this mystery.

Tags: accident.saksit colonel cover-up daughter doctor hit and run thai army