Red Bull Heir Hits Cop With Ferrari, Drags Body

Vorayuth Yoovidhya, 27, taken in for questioning
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Sep 3, 2012 9:31 AM CDT
Red Bull Heir Hits Cop With Ferrari, Drags Body
Vorayuth Yoovidhya, a grandson of late Red Bull founder Chaleo Yoovidhaya, is taken by a plain-clothes police officer for investigation Monday, Sept. 3, 2012 in Bangkok, Thailand.   ((AP Photo) THAILAND OUT)

A grandson of the creator of the Red Bull energy drink has been arrested for driving a Ferrari that struck a police officer and dragged his dead body down a Bangkok street in an early-morning hit-and-run, police said today. Police took Vorayuth Yoovidhya, 27, in for questioning after tracing oil streaks for several blocks to his family's gated estate in a wealthy neighborhood of the Thai capital. He faces charges of causing death by reckless driving and escaping an arrest by police but was released on a $15,900 bail.

Vorayuth admitted he drove the charcoal gray sports car but said the police officer's motorcycle abruptly cut in front of his vehicle. Bangkok's top police official apparently took charge of the investigation after a lower-ranking policeman initially tried to cover up the crime by turning in a bogus suspect. The official himself led a team of officers to search the compound of late Red Bull founder Chaleo Yoovidhaya, one of Thailand's wealthiest men before he passed away this year, and confiscated a Ferrari with a badly damaged front bumper and broken windshield (More Red Bull stories.)

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