Video of a senior police officer whose car careened into other vehicles on a busy Phnom Penh street killing one person has stoked public outrage amid concern the suspect, accused of being drunk at the wheel, will get preferential treatment.
Hun Heng, head of the logistics office at the Phnom Penh Municipal Police, is accused of driving his Lexus RX400 into multiple motorbikes and vehicles in broad daylight on Thursday, resulting in the death of Rien Sopheurn, 49, and injuring three others. He was arrested at the scene and is now in police custody.
Footage captured by another driver’s dashcam shows the SUV barrel into view, tires screeching, as a helmet, apparently from a motorcyclist who has already been hit, rolls down the road. The SUV then bashes into a tuktuk and collides with another car before swerving right, crashing into a tree on the sidewalk and coming to a halt.
The dead man’s daughter, whose Facebook handle is Da Molika, posted a public plea to Prime Minister Hun Manet, requesting justice and harsh punishment for the perpetrator.
Phnom Penh Municipal Police spokesperson Sam Vicheka told local media on Thursday night that the suspect had been arrested for reckless and intoxicated driving, with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.45 mg, which is equivalent to 0.45% of alcohol per deciliter of blood – a potentially fatal level of alcohol.
However, the following morning, the police’s media and rapid response team announced on Facebook that Hun Heng’s BAC was 0.35 mg, prompting suspicion about that data and the handling of Hun Heng’s case.
RFA was not able to reach Hun Heng or any legal representative for him for comment.
Ruining the lives of others
The dramatic dashcam video was widely viewed in Cambodia and struck a nerve among netizens. RFA Khmer’s video story on the crash attracted 3.5 million views within 18 hours, and 2,800 comments.
“Officers who drive while intoxicated and cause such incidents should be removed from the force and imprisoned for life,” wrote netizen Setha Pell.
“Drinking, ruining the lives of others, being depraved. Sitting on the law, not enforcing it,” commented netizen Phavuth Chhun.
Sek Socheat, a policy development and research advisor, voiced concern that the revision of the BAC reading might be irregular, given that the suspect is a police officer.
He warned that without strict monitoring of the case, lower-level law enforcement might be lenient or biased, despite Prime Minister Hun Manet’s call for strict legal action without exception.
“If there are still double standards in law enforcement like this, the enforcement of laws in Cambodia will continue to deteriorate, and people will lose even more trust,” Sek Socheat told RFA.
Already in Cambodia, there’s a prevailing assumption that the rich and well-connected get off lightly when they are responsible for serious traffic accidents.
When the son of a top Cambodian Interior Ministry official was sentenced in September 2024 to 12 years in prison in Australia for a fatal car crash, it prompted comparisons with cases in Cambodia where high-profile government officials and businessmen have faced lenient punishment or no legal consequences at all.
An average of about five people a day die in traffic accidents on Cambodia’s roads. The Ministry of Public Works and Transport reported that during 2024, there were 1,509 such deaths.
Phnom Penh residents told RFA they are increasingly anxious about traveling the capital‘s roads.
“I’m really scared. I feel like I’ve become so anxious for so long that I’m no longer worried about being hit from the front or hitting someone ourselves. I’m more afraid of being hit from behind where we can’t even see it coming,” Be Sreynith, a fourth-year university student, told RFA.
Edited by Mat Pennington.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Khmer.