Police Official Opens Fire in Road Rage Incident

An officer in the Interior Ministry’s minor crimes police unit was arrested in Phnom Penh late Saturday night after he opened fire on an SUV and injured a woman during a bout of drunken road rage, police said Sunday.

Thou Sopheak, 32, was arrested after he twice opened fire with his pistol on the back window of a Toyota RAV4 during a traffic jam on Street 95 in Chamkar Mon district’s Boeng Keng Kang III commune, according to municipal deputy police chief Chuon Narin.

The woman escaped serious injury, with a bullet shattering her car’s back windscreen but only scraping across the back of her neck, police photographs showed.

“We will send him [Mr. Sopheak] to court tomorrow to punish him for his actions last night, as we can’t punish him by police disciplinary rules,” Mr. Narin said. “We arrested him as part of law enforcement as an example for others.”

Mr. Narin said that the official had confessed to the crimes and to being drunk at the time.

Municipal minor crimes chief Song Ly said Mr. Sopheak will face court Monday.

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