BANGKOK — A man accused of beating a tollway guard unconscious for not letting him go through the Easy Pass lane confessed to the crime and has been charged with assault, a police colonel said Friday.
Thanawat Paesawad, 35, turned himself in Thursday morning after police identified him in an arrest warrant as a suspect in the savage beating of toll booth guard Aneerut Saengmitr, 52, for telling him he couldn’t go through the automated lane without an Easy Pass card at the Pracha Chuen entrance to the Sirat Expressway.
“We identified Mr. Thanawat, who then came to the police station to turn himself in,” said Col. Samart Porahomchat. “He confessed that he had assaulted the guard out of excessive rage.”
Read: Passenger Beats Guard Senseless At Tollbooth
The Sunday incident began when Aneerut told the people inside an Isuzu truck to back out from the Easy Pass lane at the tollway and enter one of the cash lanes. One passenger responded by becoming irate and shouting at Aneerut before exiting the vehicle and attacking him.
Police brought Thanawat and Aneerut together and encouraged them to reach a private settlement on damages, Samart said. Aneerut demanded 30,000 baht for his emotional and physical trauma, but Thanawat would only offer 10,000.
“They couldn’t agree, but we still made them apologize to each other,” said the police colonel. “We won’t know if they were really sincere to each other deep down. Still, the accused brought his mom to the police station, who wai-ed to the victim.”
Aneerut and Thanawat will go to court to settle on the amount of damages to be paid.
