Police arrested a Nigerian man early Sunday morning in Phnom Penh after he drunkenly crashed his SUV into a tuk-tuk before swerving into a group of motorbikes, killing a young woman and injuring four men, officials said.
The accident occurred at about 4 a.m. on Street 1986 in Sen Sok district’s Phnom Penh Thmei commune, when the man lost control of his black Chevrolet SUV, said commune police chief Keo Sothot.
“He crashed into the woman, killing her, and then swerved into three or four other motorbikes nearby, injuring the men,” Mr. Sothot said, adding that he did not know the name of the Nigerian.
Mr. Sothot said that shortly after the accident, the Nigerian man tried to flee the scene on foot, but more than 50 locals surrounded him. The man quickly retreated back inside the SUV as people began pelting it with rocks, he said.
“We arrived at the scene quickly to intervene,” he said. “I think if police had come later, the suspect might be dead or badly injured.”
Three commune police officers received minor injuries after they were hit by rocks while trying to detain the man, Mr. Sothot said, adding that commune, district and municipal traffic police were involved in the arrest.
Mr. Sothot identified the dead woman as Yi Srey Net, 24, who was riding her motorbike to the Doeum Kor market in Chamkar Mon district to buy produce when she was struck by the SUV.
Sem Kunthea, deputy municipal traffic police chief, said the driver of the vehicle, whose name he could not remember, was in his 30s and had been drinking before the accident.
“The accident happened because the driver was drunk. That guy just left a club,” he said, declining to name the club.
According to Mr. Kunthea, the man was being held at the municipal traffic police station Sunday for questioning and will be sent to the municipal court Monday.
“We have accused him of drunk driving and causing death and injury,” he said.
