Jenpop Weeraporn, 37, has been charged with drunk driving resulting in deaths and with resisting arrest, in addition to reckless driving resulting in deaths and property damage, deputy national police chief General Pongsapat Pongcharoen yesterday.

Pongsapat said a nurse at an Ayutthaya hospital where the motorist was taken after the accident told him yesterday that Jenpop had refused a police officer’s request to be subjected to an alcohol test.

According to an amendment to the Land Traffic Act, any driver refusing to undergo an alcohol test will be automatically suspected of drunk driving and charged accordingly.

On Sunday, Jenpop drove his Mercedes-Benz into the back of a Ford sedan, which had been carrying two postgraduate students, in Ayutthaya. The rear-ended vehicle caught fire.

Just about an hour earlier, Jenpop’s vehicle was caught on camera at Rama IV toll gate on the Bangkok expressway while it was crashing past the gate’s barrier. A clip of the incident was widely distributed online yesterday.

Jenpop was yesterday taken from Samitivej Hospital in Bangkok to Ayutthaya Provincial Court in an ambulance. Police asked the court for a 12-day detention while the investigation was under way.

The court released the suspect on bail on condition that he not leave the country. But he was prohibited from driving and his driving licence was confiscated.

Jenpop was being treated for depression and short concentration, his father Jessada said yesterday.

Lexapro, which is used to treat anxiety and major depressive disorder, was found in Jenpop’s vehicle after the accident, according to Pongsapat.

Pongsapat was assigned by national police chief General Chakthip Chaijinda to expedite the investigation after a public uproar.

A new team of police investigators has been appointed to replace the old one. The older group of investigators is being investigated for perceived delay in their work.

Ayutthaya provincial deputy police chief Pol Colonel Surin Thappanbupha has been appointed to head the new nine-member investigative team, according to Pongsapat.

He said yesterday that two senior police officers at Ayutthaya’s Phra In Racha district police station, which has jurisdiction over the case, have been transferred to inactive duties at the First Provincial Police Region headquarters. They are the station’s superintendent Pol Colonel Pongpat Suksawat and his deputy in charge of investigation, Pol Lt-Colonel Somsak Polpankwang. Both senior officers are being investigated for possible disciplinary offences. A committee has been set up to determine whether they should charged with criminal offences as well, according to Pongsapat.