The excitement began at 6pm when the truck driver failed to stop for a checkpoint on Phitsanulok-Uttaradit Road in the Wat Bote district village of Ban Tha Ngam.

The truck sped through the checkpoint, prompting suspicions it was carrying contraband. Police radioed ahead to other checkpoints and gave chase.

The speeding truck was observed veering left and right as it overtook other vehicles. At one point its trailer struck a pursuing police car.

The fleeing driver raced through Mueang district into Wang Thong district, where police had set up a roadblock. The truck still failed to stop, made a right turn onto Wang Thong-Sak Lek Road and then onto Tha Muenram-None Mapang Road.

There the driver swerved to one side trying to head off a pursuing highway patrol car, lost control and entered a ditch, but managed to get back on the road again.

The chase came to an end only when the driver turned into a dead-end soi in a village designated Moo 10 in Tambon Tha Muenram.

The arrested driver was identified as Prasert Sengdonprai, 43, a resident of Phetchabun. Police found no illegal items in the truck and the driver passed tests for intoxicants.

Prasert had his wife, Wan Khongboon, and daughter, Cha-em Sengdonprai, with him in the truck. He told police he’d been headed to Phrae to load corn, but had an argument with his wife, and in his fury decided to ignore the initial police checkpoint.

He was charged with blowing through traffic lights, reckless driving endangering people and property, and refusing to obey police orders to stop.