A Drunken Official Drove a Car and Hit a Man and Killed Him by Driving Over Him – Thursday, 20.8.2009

Posted on 21 August 2009. Filed under: Week 626 |

The Mirror, Vol. 13, No. 626

“In the night of 18 August 2009, a heavily drunken man drove a Chevrolet and hit and rolled over a security guard who worked for a coffee shop and hotel in the center of Phnom Penh, killing him immediately.

“Police and witnesses said that at around 7:20 p.m. on 18 August 2009, a white Chevrolet with number plate 2K-6542 was driving very fast from the crossing at the water storage tower near the Olympic stadium towards the market called Phsar Depou, along the Jawaharlal Nehru road. Near the Atlantic coffee shop and hotel, the driver of the car lost control over it, as another car was driven backwards from that shop, causing that car to avoid it, but hitting a parking guard close by and push him onto the road. After hitting the guard, the offensive car did not stop, but accelerated and rolled over the guard and dragged him about 20 meters, and then the car drove away.

“Witnesses said that at that moment, police of the Phsar Daeum Kor post intervened to stop that the [speeding] car, but could not catch it as it was driving too fast. Unfortunately, that car struck a 2002 Toyota Camry and got stuck. Because the owner of the Toyota Camry is also a police official, he then joined the others to arrest the offensive car [that had backed out and hit the parking guard].

“According to Prampi Makara district police, the driver of the car that rolled over the guard and killed him is Chan Saroeun, a lieutenant-colonel, and deputy chief of staff of the [Phnom Penh] Municipal Police. Police said that he was so heavily drunk that he did not recognize the other police officers when he was brought to be detained at the Prampi Makara police station; the police searched his car and found two guns, one AK-47 and another one pistol.

“However, the Prampi Makara district police could not detain him, because he is a high ranking official, and there was an intervention to release him, from a higher level, at that night. Those who knew him said that he is a high ranking official who is responsible for the enforcement of the traffic law. But he did not act as a good model implementing the traffic law, but he drove a car while he was drunk, hit a person, and rolled over that person killing him. Now, what should be done in such a case?

“The man who died in the traffic accident is Chan Lonh, born in 1970 in Kompong Rou, Svay Rieng. He had been a security guard of the Atlantic coffee shop and hotel for many years. He was a polite and friendly person.

“His wife is Sin Sopheak, 33, she has a son of about two years, and is now 6 month pregnant. At this pint in time, her husband was killed and taken away from her by this terribly act, while the perpetrator is a high ranking police official. Can she receive justice?” Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.17, #4977, 20.8.2009

Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:
Thursday, 20 August 2009

Areyathor, Vol.16, #1408, 20-21.8.2009

The Japan International Cooperation Agency [JICA] Vows to Help Develop Cambodian Economy through Agriculture

Deum Ampil, Vol.3, #267, 20.8.2009

Cambodia and the World Bank Confirm Success in Land Registration
Phnom Penh Municipal Governor Bans Citizens to Rent Rooms in the Illegal 10-Storeys-Heigh Building [Phnom Penh – see Deum Ampil in yesterday’s Mirror]
Bombs Exploded in Baghdad, Killing 58 People [by the time of this publication, already 95 persons reported killed and more than 500 wounded]

Kampuchea Thmey, Vol.8, #2027, 20.8.2009

Samdech Dekchor Hun Sen Asks the New President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency to Help Encourage Japanese Investors to Cambodia
The Ministry of Labor Said that There Are Around 20,000 Employees Who Lost Their Jobs
19-Year-Old Girl Who Was Heavily Drunk Drove a Car and Hit a Moto Driver and Damaged Two Cars [Phnom Penh]

Koh Santepheap, Vol.42, #6733, 20.8.2009

The Cambodia Offices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and of the International Labor Organization Appreciate that more Investigations Happen in the Case of Chea Vichea [former president of the Cambodian Free Trade Union who was murdered in 2004]
Violent Robbery in Phnom Penh: A Woman Was Shot with Five Bullets to Rob Her Money Bag, where Three Bullets Hit Her [she is a money-lender – the bag contained money and jewelry worth approx. US$2,000; she suffered serious injuries and two robbers escaped]
A Thai Cultural Committee Granted Bath 1 Million [approx. US$30,000] to Repair an Old Building of the Battambang Municipality [the building was built in 1905 by a Thai official]

Historical Note:

1794: The Battambang and Siem Reap areas had fallen under Siamese control.

1863: Cambodia became a “protectorate” of France.

1867: In a Franco-Thai treaty, Siam, which had never been under foreign colonial control – only in 1932 the name of Siam was changed into Thailand – renounced claims of dominion over Cambodia, but it kept the regions of Battambang, Siem Reap, Banteay Meanchey, and Oddar Meancheay, which became provinces of Thailand.

1887: France announced the formation of the Union of Indochina, which at that time included the general area of Cambodia, and the Vietnamese regions of Tonkin, Annam, and Cochinchina.

1893: Laos was also forced into the Union of Indochina, after France had threatened war on Siam, changing the region of Laos from Siamese to French sovereignty.

1905: The French administratin in Battambang erected the building, for which Thailand now offered funds for its upkeep.

1907: Battambang was returned to French Indochina by a French-Siamese agreement.

1940: When in war erupted between Thailand and France – the Second World War had started in 1939 – the Thai ground and air forces were stronger than the French military in the region, and started to invade the French Union of Indochina. And Japan – which had a militay presence in South East Asia during the Second World War, allied to Germany and Italy, forced France to give up the province of Battambang and part of the province of Siem Reap and return them again to Thailand.

1946: After Japan had been defeated by the Allied Forces of the Second World War – including France – in 1945, these were returned by Thailand to the French controlled Union of Indochina.

Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.17, #4977, 20.8.2009

A Drunken Official Drove a Car and Hit a Man and Killed Him by Driving Over Him
Cambodia and Brunei Want to Remove Some Obstacles in Tourism [especially, to arrange direct flights from Brunei to Cambodia]
Lightning Killed Two People and Injured One while They Were Taking a Shelter from the Rain in Their Store [Kompong Cham]
IMF: [Global] Economic Recovery Has Started [said the chief economist of the IMF, Olivier Blanchard]

Samleng Yuvachun Khmer, Vol.16, #3496, 20.8.2009

The Ministry of Health Announced a System of Free-of-Charge Treatment for Disabled People, and Gave this Task to Two Big Hospitals [the Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital and the Kosamak Hospital – which have been partly privatized but continue also partly under government control]
[Fifty People of the] Community to Be Evicted from the Boeng Kak Region Protested in Front of the Phnom Penh Municipality [19 August 2009]

Sereypheap Thmey, Vol.17, #1776, 20.8.2009

Leaflets Accusing the Government of Having a Yuon [Vietnamese] Head and a Khmer Body Were Found to Have Been Distributed [in Phnom Penh]

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