The father of a teen motorcyclist killed in a road accident involving a police colonel has said that the officer himself pocketed 1.4 million baht compensation he was due.
Somkid Laongnual alleged that Nong Prue police chief Pol Col Thawatchai Norasingh misappropriated about 1.4 million baht compensation he was supposed to be paid for the death for his son, Prinya.
Prinya, 19, was killed when his motorcycle and a car driven by Thawatchai collided on the night of Dec 27 last year in Kanchanaburi province. Thawatchai was police chief in Nong Prue district.
Mr Somkid alleged that Thawatchai began negotiating about a month after the accident over the money to be paid for the loss of his son.
Mr Somkid alleged to reporters on Monday he was told to settle the case and accept 100,000 baht or get nothing.
Mr Somkid learned later that he was supposed to receive 1.5 million baht in total instead of only 100,000 baht, but he was afraid of registering a fraud complaint with police in Kanchanaburi, where Thawatchai was a senior officer.
Mr Somkid decided to post a message asking for justice on his Facebook account.
"I am deeply saddened by the loss of my son, who cannot be replaced by money. And then I was cheated by this police officer," he wrote.
A day later, Kanchanaburi's police chief transferred Pol Col Thawatchai from Nong Prue station chief to the provincial police head office, to clear the way for an investigation into the case.
Pol Col Thawatchai has not reacted to the accusation.
