Local authorities on Saturday sent a truck driver to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court over the death of a Cambodian-American man who hit an electricity pole while riding his motorbike, sending him under the vehicle’s wheels.

Phnom Penh Municipal police chief Sar Thet told The Post on Sunday that 19-year-old Minh Raksmey, from Kampong Speu’s province Kong Pisei district, was sent to court after the truck he was driving ran over and killed one person and injured another at 1pm on Friday on North Bridge Street in Sen Sok district’s O’Bek Ka’am commune.

“It is illegal. He drove carelessly causing the death of one person and injuring another. He has been sent to court,” he said.

O’Bek Ka’am police chief Neang Phally named the deceased as San Sophorn, 28, a Cambodian-American who had been in the Kingdom since December last year and staying with relatives in Sen Sok district’s Teuk Thla commune.

“I was not at the scene, but witnesses said the victim hit the [electricity pole]. The truck then dragged him around 50m,” he said.

Yoem Roth, O’Bek Ka’am commune chief, said that the large electricity poles on the street had frequently caused accidents in the past, with another person having been killed.

Rott Kham, a friend of the deceased, said on Sunday that Sophorn’s family is to travel from the US for his funeral this week.

“We have been through a lot since coming to Cambodia together. Me, you, Thuch, Klue always doing things together. You being gone really hurts so much, bro. Each and every one of us misses you . . . I can’t even think straight right now."

“It feels like a dream that I can’t wake up from . . .We are all gonna make sure your family is OK and find justice for you."

“In the afterlife, we are gonna meet again, my brother. RIP Sam Sophorn,” Kham wrote on Facebook.