Police today are questioning the alleged driver of a van that hit and killed a Filipino cyclist taking part in a long-distance rally before fleeing the scene during the wee hours of Tuesday.
Chutipan Buddawiang, 29, was arrested in Sa Kaeo province yesterday afternoon. The van driver allegedly ran a red light and slammed into Russel Perez, a 55-year-old cyclist, who was making a right turn at the traffic light on Route 314 in Chacheongsao province. Chutipan then allegedly did not stop to help the victim, Thairath reported.
Police are expected to release more details about the case in a press conference later today, according to Inn News.
Perez was attending the Audax Randonneurs, a 1,000-kilometer cycling rally that started at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, on Saturday. The 55 year old was only 50 kilometers away from reaching the finish line in Trat province.
Perez was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Police tracked down his van from CCTV footage and later discovered the vehicle at a car repair shop in Bangkok. The shop owner told police Chutipan claimed that he had hit a cow.
The Audax Randonneur organizers said in a Wednesday statement that they were working with authorities to repatriate the body to the Philippines.
“At this moment, the team and Audax friends are trying our best to coordinate with police, the embassy of the Philippines, and his family to bring the deceased to Manila to have religious service accordingly,” the statement said.
This is not the first time long-distance cyclists have been killed on Thai roads.
Chilean cyclist Juan Francisco Guillermo, 47, had been cycling around the world for four years before he was fatally run over by a Thai truck driver in February 2015.
British couple Peter Root and Mary Thompson died on a Thai road in February 2013, after biking around the world and recording their journey in a blog for two years.
In a 2015 WHO report, Thailand was said to have the second-deadliest roads on the planet.
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