Government car chased down on Hanoi street for hit-and-run accident

By VnExpress December 11, 2016 | 12:36 am PT

A screenshot shows the state-owned car being stopped by an angry mob on Saturday evening.

A Communist Party organ has pledged to throw the book at the driver.

Minor accident causes severe traffic jam in Hanoi

The driver of a state-owned car in Hanoi was chased down by an angry mob on Saturday night after crashing into a motorcycle and trying to flee the scene.

The car, with official blue license plates, crashed into a motorcycle on Nguyen Trai Street in Thanh Xuan District. Instead of stopping, as is required by law, the driver of the car made off at high speed.

In Vietnam, blue plates are only granted to cars used by government agencies and officials.

Several bystanders, incensed by the driver's actions, decided to follow the car, and another motorcyclist was hit in the high-speed chase that ensued. The driver finally came to a stop at traffic lights in Dong Da District.

Dong Da police have handed over the case to their counterparts in Thanh Xuan where the initial incident occurred.

A senior officer from the Thanh Xuan police force told local media on Sunday that the car and its driver are from the Commission on Economic Affairs, a central agency tasked with advising the ruling Communist Party on economic policies and strategies.

One of the motorcyclists who was slightly injured in the accident has already agreed to a compensation deal with the driver, the policeman said.

Further investigations are underway.

The Commission on Economic Affairs said in a statement late Sunday that it would throw the book at the driver, identified as 58-year-old Dinh Manh Hung, once the police wrap up investigations.

Traffic incidents involving government officials and police officers usually catch a lot of attention in Vietnam.

In one recent case, a district chief prosecutor in the Central Highlands’ Kon Tum Province was sentenced to 18 months in jail in May for drunk driving. He caused multiple crashes that sent eight people to hospital.

Last January, a court in the southern province of Ba Ria - Vung Tau sentenced a former traffic police officer to five years in prison for crashing a car into a crowd in 2014, killing two and injuring seven others.