A suspected phone snatcher died from his injuries after jumping from a seven-storey building in Phnom Penh’s Boeung Trabek commune on Monday in a bid to escape police.
After a failed attempt to snatch a phone from a female tuk-tuk passenger, the two suspects fell off their motorbike and climbed to the top of the building on Street 432 in Chamkarmon district with police and locals in hot pursuit.
With no way of escape and police about to arrive, one identified as Phal Pruonh, 18, surrendered, while the other, known only as Yuon and said to also be 18, jumped.
He suffered serious injuries and died shortly after arriving at the hospital.
“Police sent Yuon to hospital. But he was seriously injured and passed away around 10 minutes after arriving at the Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital,” Chamkarmon district deputy police chief Heang Tharet told The Post on Tuesday.
He said the intended victim left without filing a complaint.
Pruonh was questioned by police and will be sent to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on charges of theft with aggravating circumstances on Wednesday.
Cambodian Centre for Human Rights (CCHR) executive director Chak Sopheap said people would lose faith in the justice system if those suspected of committing crimes were attacked by a mob instead of facing legal proceedings.
