NAKHON RATCHASIMA - An arrest warrant was issued on Tuesday for a 41-year-old German man accused of assaulting several dentists at their clinics in Muang district and damaging their equipment over a period of three-and-a-half months.
Deputy provincial police chief Pol Col Kachen Setthaputta said the provincial court approved a warrant for the man, identified only as Heffner, on three charges - trespassing, assault and damaging property.
Local and immigration police, accompanied by an interpreter, immediately rushed to the man's house at Ban Don Chumpoo in Non Sung district, only to find that the suspect had fled in a pickup.
Pol Col Kachen said the fugitive was driving a dark green Ford Ranger, and police were on his tail.
The approval of the arrest warrant came after questions were raised over police inaction in the case in the face of multiple complaints from dentists that they had been assaulted by the man.
Nakhon Ratchasima police chief Pol Maj Gen Pirote Khunmuen said on Tuesday morning that Jor Hor police had been instructed to prepare and file an application for a court arrest warrant for the man, whose name has not been disclosed.
A woman dentist first filed a complaint against the man at Jor Hor police station in Muang district on Nov 30. She said she was physically attacked by the German after he punched through a door to get into her dental clinic room.
Several other assault complaints have since been lodged against the man at Muang police station by other dentists, who also accused him of damaging their equipment.
The most recent attack was reported on Friday last week. Dentists said they were terrified they would be the man's next victim.
The provincial dentists' society and members of the public asked why police had for so long failed to take action against the man, despite the many complaints.
A police source said investigators at Jor Hor station claimed to have summonsed the man twice to report for questioning, but he failed to do so.
Two complaints filed at Muang police station were withdrawn by the complainants after they were told by the man's Thai wife that he suffered from a mental illness but did not receive treatment, the source said.