Former national police chief in Thailand charged in alleged cover-up of Red Bull heir’s deadly crash

BANGKOK (AP) — Prosecutors in Thailand on Thursday indicted a former national police chief in connection with an alleged cover-up of a 2012 Ferrari crash involving an heir to the Red Bull energy drink fortune that killed a police officer.

Former Police Chief Gen. Somyot Poompanmoung, former Deputy Attorney General Nate Naksuk and six other people were arraigned at a Bangkok court on charges alleging they conspired to alter the recorded speed of the Ferrari driven by Vorayuth “Boss” Yoovidhya to help him evade a speeding charge.

Vorayuth escaped justice by fleeing abroad in a case widely held up as an example of how the rich and well-connected enjoy impunity in Thailand.

Police have said Vorayuth smashed his Ferrari into the back of a police officer’s motorbike around dawn on a major Bangkok road in September 2012. The officer was flung from the bike and died at the scene. Vorayuth drove home and was later arrested. Medical tests showed traces of alcohol and cocaine in his bloodstream, according to police.

Vorayuth avoided further legal action by consistently failing to meet with prosecutors, while continuing for years to live a jet-set life. By the time prosecutors finally issued an arrest warrant in April 2017, Vorayuth had fled abroad, where he remains.

His case has been marked by numerous delays in the investigative and judicial processes, running down the clock on most of the charges involving the hit-and-run death of the officer. There is a single charge left of reckless driving causing death, which expires under the statute of limitations in 2027.

Vorayuth is the grandson of the late Chaleo Yoovidhya, one of the creators of the globally famous Red Bull brand. Forbes magazine this year listed the Yoovidhya family as