A suspected drunk driver chasing a foreigner through Pattaya saw her Mercedes-Benz go up in flames after she hit a power pole.
Janpen Taveesri, 48, was taken into custody and subjected to a blood-alcohol test following the Oct. 1 crash on Thappraya Road under the Bali Hai flyover. Three other cars were damaged, two of them parked. The third belonged to Belgian Stephane Mathieu Cordemans, 35, who allegedly touched off the high-speed chase by taunting the Benz driver.
According to Janpen, Cordemans had wrapped her mirror while the cars were stopped at a light, then berated the woman for bad driving. He supposedly claimed that his Honda Civic could beat her older-model Mercedes in a street race.
Janpen lost face and was angry, so she decided to show the foreigner her Benz was faster. Until it hit a utility pole and was destroyed by fire.
Witnesses pulled her out of the vehicle and extinguished the flames.
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