Following a week of intense social media scrutiny over leaked security footage, Đắk Lắk provincial police have finally suspended a traffic officer allegedly involved in a fatal crash that claimed the life of a 12th-grade student.
Latest Developments: On April 22, the Traffic Police Division of the Đắk Lắk Provincial Police officially suspended Major N.Q.H., an officer stationed at the Krông Búk Traffic Police Station. The suspension was ordered to “clarify the circumstances” surrounding the death of 18-year-old V.Đ.Q. According to Tuổi Trẻ Online, the internal suspension document was leaked and circulated on social media before the official announcement, allegedly “with some content altered.”
The Details: The tragedy occurred at noon on April 15. The student was riding a motorbike along National Highway 29 when his vehicle veered into a drainage ditch in Cư Pơng Commune. He succumbed to his injuries at the hospital.
While state media initially reported that a trailing ‘motorcyclist’ witnessed the crash and inexplicably fled—relying exclusively on police statements and entirely ignoring the perspectives of the victim’s family and independent witnesses—security camera footage rapidly spread online, leading netizens to quickly identify the fleeing individual as a traffic police officer.
According to a Facebook user Hoàng Dũng, “Anyone who watches the video once can immediately conclude: Two Đắk Lắk traffic police officers activated their sirens and chased the student. The student sped up, failed to navigate a turn at an intersection, and crashed, leading to his death. After witnessing the tragic accident, the two officers fled.”
Why It Matters: In 2013, a pursuit by four traffic officers in Bắc Ninh over a missing helmet resulted in the death of a 19-year-old woman.
More recently, authorities have actively tracked and fined multiple Facebook users in Tây Ninh and Đồng Nai for “spreading false information” regarding accidents caused by traffic police pursuits.
From April 17 to May 7, the Ministry of Public Security is collecting public feedback on the Draft Policy Dossier for the revised Penal Code. Within that draft lies an unprecedented proposal: explicitly exempting police officers from criminal liability when “carrying out operational measures.”
The Timeline: Đắk Lắk Provincial Police stated that they are actively investigating the incident and will hold a press conference upon concluding their probe, simultaneously urging the public not to share unverified information.
Huỳnh Lam wrote this article in Vietnamese and published it in Luật Khoa Magazine on April 22, 2026. The Vietnamese Magazine has the copyrights of the English translation.
