Pattaya —
A hit-and-run suspect who crashed into a 74-year-old British pedestrian turned himself in to Pattaya police and apologized to the victim. However, he insisted he did not run away.
Our previous story:
Now for our update:
Pol. Capt. Chonlawit Athipansi revealed to The Pattaya News that the driver of a white Isuzu D-Max pickup that ran a red light and rammed into Mr. Peter Palmer on Monday just surrendered himself at the Pattaya police station yesterday, November 29th.
The suspect’s name was disclosed by Pattaya police as Mr. Methanus Leeliang, 61. He was charged with reckless driving and causing harm to others, though Methanus insisted he did not intend to run away. It was unclear, however, why he left the scene.
The police then invited Methanus to Palmer’s residence to say sorry to him. Speaking via his interpreting wife, Palmer told police he was run into while crossing Pattaya Second Road at a crosswalk. The victim, who had four stitches to his head wound, said the green light still had 12 seconds left and he was in the middle of the road when Methanus ignored the traffic light and ran into him.
Methanus apologized to Palmer, saying he was unaware that the victim was a foreign tourist until police officers showed up at his house to tell him to surrender.
Methanus refused to make any further statements to the press or answer questions about why he claimed he did not flee the scene when the victim, multiple witnesses, and CCTV footage appear to show and say he did.
It was unclear if Mr. Palmer accepted the apology but Pol. Capt. Chonlawit Athipansi stated to The Pattaya News that legal charges would continue against Methanus.
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