An air force officer based in Udon Thani has apologised to a motorist for allegedly slapping her in her car in Loei province and been fined 2,000 baht after both sides settled.
Plt Off Ponlakit Chanthapa, 50, attached to Wing 23’s Air Squadron 231 in Udon Thani, and Ms Wanida Kham-on, 32, met police at Tha Li police station in Loei on Friday afternoon to discuss the case.
After the talks, the two sides settled, with the officer apologising to the woman for his actions. Both gave a wai, a gesture of apology, to each other before deciding to end the case.
Police then pressed assault and mental abuse charges against the officer and fined him 2,000 baht. The two then signed a letter to settle the case in front of police investigators at the station, Thai media reported.
The accused officer was earlier criticised online over a short Facebook video clip showed him thrusting one arm into the driver's window of a car and allegedly slapping the female driver twice in the face near an intersection in Tha Li district, Loei, on April 11.
According to the woman's account, the driver behind her honked his horn as she was parking in front of a convenience store, waiting for her aunt and niece buy some groceries. He then rolled the window and shouted at her, saying she did not give a light signal while turning. The woman said since her car was already parked, she did not understand what he meant.
After she drove on for about 20 metres, the man followed and stopped next to her. When she rolled the window and apologised, he walked over to her and put his arm into her car's window. She was heard saying before the recording stopped: "Why did you slap me? What have I done?"
After the incident, the woman filed a complaint with local police, accusing the officer of assaulting her. She earlier vowed to fight to the end.
But the officer earlier insisted he had not slapped her but was just trying to push away the recording mobile phone she was holding.
The incident prompted the Royal Thai Air Force to set up a committee to look into the case.
