The driver who was brutally beaten by a mob after three people died and eight were injured when his car hit them on Monivong Boulevard has been detained in jail after coming out of a coma.

Phnom Penh traffic police chief Tin Vansy told The Post yesterday that E Thavarak, Phnom Penh Municipal Court investigating judge, issued the arrest warrant on April 1 ordering suspect Meas Sokheng, 30, to be detained at Prey Sar prison, charged with “careless driving” causing death and injury.

“The [suspect] was sent to Prey Sar prison for detention on Saturday evening,” Vansy confirmed.

Sokheng was mobbed and beaten unconscious by a crowd last week after his Toyota Camry hit several motorbikes as it sped the wrong way up the street in what witnesses said was an attempt to flee from a minor collision with another car. He was sent to the Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital, where he had been comatose for a few days.

Vansy said it was uncertain if the authorities would investigate the mob attack: “Our task is to investigate the traffic accident only, but for the mobbing that happened to the suspect, it is the obligation of justice police or local authorities.”

Phnom Penh municipal deputy police chief Song Ly and Chamkarmon district police chief Yin San could not be reached for comment yesterday.