Story By: Michael Leidig, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report
Video Credit: AsiaWire/@vu.khoivu.39
This is the moment a police officer at a checkpoint is sent flying by a speeding driver who refuses to stop while reportedly high on drugs.
The roadblock had been set up by cops in Vietnam’s Central Highlands region but the target vehicle that was carrying illegally harvested wood attempts to swerve around a lorry used as a roadblock.
However police officers are in the way, and to avoid them the driver collides with the van, sending it flying and smashing an officer standing behind the lorry off his feet and sending him across the road.
Picture Credits: AsiaWire & AsiaWire/@lan.maithi.9889
Local police spokesman Colonel Phan Thanh Tam said that all three people who had been in the van were arrested following the incident happened over the weekend.
The roadblock had been set up after they suspected that the 12 seater vehicle was carrying illegally harvested timber in the district of Kngo Chro, which is in Gia Lai Province in Central Vietnam`s Central Highlands Region.
Illegal logging is a major concern in Vietnam where over half of the country is covered by forests. It has recently signed deals with the EU to make sure only legally harvested timber is exported to Europe.
The roadblock was set up when the van sped off following a routine traffic stop.
The driver was identified as Nguyen Thanh Hung, 33, who was travelling with teenager Dinh H Bap, 15, and Pham Minh Khanh, 29.
The injured police officer, identified as Captain Nguyen Dinh Nha, suffered a severe back injury but is expected to survive. The footage as he tries to stand also shows the van lying on its side with the three men inside being quickly arrested. The three in the vehicle were unharmed.
According to Col. Tam, the driver of the vehicle, who tested positive for drugs, is most likely facing an attempted murder charge once a report is completed.
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