The Ferrari-driving Thai grandson of the Red Bull energy drink creator has

The Ferrari-driving Thai grandson of the Red Bull energy drink creator has been charged with drunk driving following a deadly hit-and-run collision with a policeman, police said.

The suspect, 27-year-old Worayuth Yoovidhya, was earlier charged with causing death by dangerous driving and fleeing the scene.

He is accused of hitting the police officer, who was on a motorcycle, and dragging the body along a main road at around dawn on Monday in the capital Bangkok. A trail of petrol led police to his home.

“His blood sample contained alcohol over the legal limit,” said police Lieutenant Colonel Akharawin Sukhonthawit.

If convicted, Worayuth faces up to 10 years’ imprisonment for causing death by dangerous driving and failing to stop, and up to two years in jail for drunk driving, he said.

While police were quick to press charges, the incident revived controversy in Thailand about a tradition of impunity for the kingdom’s wealthy elite.

A police officer involved in the case faces disciplinary action over allegations he conspired with the suspect’s family to arrange for an employee to take the blame for the deadly crash.

Worayuth’s grandfather Chaleo Yoovidhya was one of Thailand’s richest men thanks to the global success of the Red Bull empire that he co-founded with Austrian Dietrich Mateschitz in the 1980s. Chaleo died in March and he was 89.

Source AP