On March 17th, Hai Ba Trung District Police, Hanoi, detained Le Tien Dung, 37 years old, from Nam Dinh province, for investigation into the act of resisting on-duty officers, following a pickup truck incident in Hanoi that caused public outcry.
Dung, the driver of the Ford Ranger pickup truck, initiated a dangerous chase when law enforcement officers requested him to stop on Truong Dinh Street. The situation escalated as Dung’s vehicle collided with multiple other vehicles on the road and was only stopped on the Ring Road 3 elevated highway on March 15th.
At the police station, Dung confessed that on the afternoon of March 15th, he was driving a friend to drop off their child on Truong Dinh Street. This was also the reason Dung parked his car in front of house number 93 Truong Dinh, leading to the pickup truck incident in Hanoi.
When local ward police officers discovered and requested to handle him for illegal parking, Dung asked to be “dealt with on the spot” but was refused.
Le Tien Dung at the police station after the pickup truck incident in Hanoi
According to Dung’s testimony, the reason for his escape was that he did not have his vehicle registration papers with him. Dung explained that his car papers were being held by some friends as collateral for a loan.
“I was afraid that if the ward police checked, they would impound the car, and I would have no means to get to work,” Dung confessed. He also affirmed that the pickup truck was his own property.
During the chase, Dung claimed he did not clearly remember colliding with and hitting which vehicles. However, he stated that he felt pursued, heard shouts of “thief, robber,” and even had stones and bricks thrown at his car, causing him to panic.
“At that time, I was in a state of panic, so I just drove wherever the road was clear. I was afraid that if I stopped in the middle of such a crowd, my life would also be in danger. I did not intentionally hit anyone. At intersections or junctions, I still honked to warn people to avoid,” Dung explained regarding the pickup truck incident in Hanoi.
When he reached Ring Road 3, Dung claimed that due to heavy traffic and congestion, he could not continue to escape.
“At that point, some people smashed the glass and rushed to beat me. But fortunately, some people intervened, and the police arrived in time,” the pickup truck driver recounted.
Regarding the positive drug test result, Dung admitted to using “kẹo” (a type of synthetic drug) about 4-5 days prior.
At the police station, the driver expressed remorse and sincerely confessed about his actions in the pickup truck incident in Hanoi.
According to information from Hanoi Police, on the afternoon of March 15th, the urban order police team of Truong Dinh Ward Police was carrying out tasks to handle urban order violations in the ward area.
At approximately 2:10 PM on the same day, the task force discovered a wrongly parked orange Ford Ranger and proceeded to inspect it. At this time, Le Tien Dung came from the opposite side of the road and identified himself as the car owner.
The task force requested Dung to present relevant papers, but he could not produce them and asked to be let off with a warning. However, the task force insisted on requiring the driver to present papers for inspection according to regulations regarding handling the pickup truck incident in Hanoi.
At this point, Dung disobeyed, got into the car, started the engine, and fled. Dung reversed, crashing into and damaging the front of the ward police car behind him, then swerved and accelerated away in the direction of Truong Dinh – Kim Dong – Linh Dam – Nguyen Xien – Khuat Duy Tien intersection to get onto the Ring Road 3 elevated highway, heading towards Phap Van.
During the escape, the car driven by Dung collided with 3 motorcycles and 1 truck, but fortunately, there were no casualties. In addition, through investigation, functional forces also discovered that Dung’s car collided with 2 other motorcycles, raising the total number of vehicles involved to an alarming figure in the pickup truck incident in Hanoi.
Upon reaching Ring Road 3, Dung was stopped by citizens. Immediately after, the police quickly arrived at the scene, coordinated with the people to arrest Dung and take him to headquarters for processing, ending the dangerous escape journey of the pickup truck driver in Hanoi.
Initial test results confirmed that Dung was positive for drugs but no alcohol violation was detected. The pickup truck incident in Hanoi is continuing to be investigated and clarified by the police agency.
